Tenta
by Chubbidust
Summary: A story that you will question heavily. This story is about a mediocre teen named William who sorta hates his life and one day got hit in the face by an inkling. Now he's forced to deal with constant harassment from his sister and a squid. Squids? In my house? It's more likely than you think. (Changed Cover!)
1. oh no

Lazily swinging open the front door to the house, I grumpily stepped into the room, slipping off my muddy shoes at the entrance and closing the door with the heel of my foot. The backpack slung on my shoulder was thrown to the floor in front of the couch, that of which I immediately stumbled to and flopped down upon, one arm draping off. With my face buried into one of the cushions of the couch, I let out an exhausted moan, having just gotten home after the last day of school, finally on summer break.

"Welcome home, dickface." I heard someone call from upstairs in a sarcastic tone.

Briefly lifting my head out of the soft cushion, I watched my younger sister quickly step down the stairs, loudly smacking on a ham sandwich she must've made before I arrived. You know she's despicable since she's using wheat bread, the worst kind of bread to ever exist. I rolled my eyes at her comment, burying my face right back into the couch cushion, not wanting to deal with her torturous personality.

She laughed, taking another smug bite out of her sandwich before saying with a stuffed mouth, "I made sure to fart in that cushion a couple times because I just _knew_ you would come home and shove your face in it. Be careful with your daily habits, dear brother of mine."

I immediately rolled myself off the couch and fell to the floor before straining to stand back up and back away from it as if it were a rabid tiger. "Alright, cool, now I gotta burn my face and the couch cushion. And maybe this whole couch while I'm at it. And then the house. Thanks, lil sis."

She snorted, finishing the last of her sandwich and nonchalantly brushing the crumbs off her fingers onto the carpet floor. "I was kidding, even if I did bless the couch with my body's gases I wouldn't tell you. I'd just silently laugh at you from afar, waiting until you realized exactly what had transpired." She eventually walked in front of me, where I got to have a look at her current outfit.

She was a decently dark girl, just light enough for people to instantly notice the freckles on her face. She had round, golden glasses that flashed in my eyes occasionally when she walked in the sun, a pain in the ass they were. Her hair, dyed a navy blue, was tied into a very loose and scraggly bun, with stray hairs falling out close to the sides of her face. Her outfit had stayed consistent throughout the school year, a crop top and ripped jeans. The terrifying thing about it was she wore the same outfit even through the coldest days of winter, she was an unstoppable beast...like a yeti or something. She had no shoes on and only socks, which meant she was willing to walk into the kitchen and get her socks wet with water that was "accidentally" spilled on the floor, otherwise known as the worst feeling known to all mankind.

I raised a brow, "For a fourteen year old, you sure do sass like you're a seventeen year old dropout, Alyssa." I flopped back onto the couch face first, burying my head in the cushion once again. It's a wonder I put up with her somehow.

The girl, now dubbed Alyssa, crossed her arms, "For a fifteen year old, you sure do fail your classes like a six year old who eats glue, Will." She then shrugged her shoulders, walking over to the TV against the wall and pressing the 'on' button.

I opened my eyes and exasperatedly threw one arm into the air, "You get an F one time! One time! I'll have you know that the teacher of that class was the most bullshit teacher I've ever had. Everyone hated her guts, even the other goddamn teachers! I'm very sure she had something against me. One time she gave me detention for sighing, 'Lyss. _Sighing!_ You can't tell me I earned that grade."

"Yeah maybe that, _ooooor_ you just weren't paying attention in her class, and didn't know the material, and therefore failed that class like a goldfish in a running marathon." Ignoring my scoff at her comment, Alyssa turned on the Wii U, tossing the gamepad to me with a lazy hand, "Play some shit, I'm bored but I don't like exerting effort."

I quickly sat up and fumbled with the controller as it fell into my hands, before gripping it and managing to _not_ let it fall to the floor like the thousands of times before, one of those times causing the screen to crack ever so slightly but not ruining it entirely. Squinting at the screen, I could see that the game _Splatoon_ was starting up, the sound of drums coming in through the speakers. I looked over at Alyssa with an unimpressed expression, to where she started getting defensive.

"What? This game is adorable! I'd take cute little squid people over Call of Duty or whatever any day." She defensively shrugged her shoulders, "Plus, I love it when people destroy you and you get so irritated when they taunt you after you die, I pull out my phone each and every time that happens, even when you don't know I'm there."

"Wow, gee, thanks," I grumbled under my breath, before hitting the requested buttons to start the game. The Squid Sisters did their usual newscast, an event many Splatoon players were tired of. Speeding through their scripted phrases, I got out of the news event and pressed the 'Octo Valley' button on my gamepad. The screen went to black, a loading patch of ink swirling in the right bottom corner.

"So you're facing octos today? Go figure, no good footage for me today," Alyssa whined, folding her arms against her chest and falling back into the couch's cushions in disappointment. I laughed at her misfortune, before looking up at the screen.

...Oh.

"...Whaaa?" I said intelligently to myself in confusion, realizing the normal inkling, Agent 3, hadn't sprung out of the sewer drain. Instead, a cutscene seemed to be occurring, and the setting of the scene wasn't in the normal part of Octo Valley. Instead, it was dark with no life, no birds, nothing. There was no music either, which sent a shiver through both of our spines. All that was on the screen was a cartoon icon of an octopus in the corner with the camera looking down into a dank abyss. I saw a couple of weeds growing in between what seemed to be cracked concrete, but nothing else beyond that.

"...William, did you hack the game lately? I highly doubt this is some DLC or whatever, you're broke as fuck and our bro only gets us stuff when we have good grades." Alyssa stated, arms still crossed over her chest. She glanced over at me for a moment, before pushing her glasses up on her face and looking back at the screen with a pissed expression.

I furrowed my brow and disregarded her jab at me and my F's, "You know I don't mess with my games. I'm not sure what the hell is going on." I looked down at the gamepad, which displayed the Octo Valley map. Thinking the game was possibly just frozen, I experimentally pressed down on one of the stages I usually would jump to when I was bored but not ready to head online. When my finger touched the screen, it played the sound that usually played when you were unable to super jump. Nothing happened on the TV, either.

I pressed the button again. And again. Over and over I frantically pressed the button, desperate for a reaction from the game. Nothing.

" _What the fuck._ " I uttered, a cold sense of dread washing over me. Something was definitely up, I was sure of it. I urgently jammed the power button on the gamepad with my finger, hoping it'd switch off the game so it'd end this unnerving mess.

No, it did the exact opposite instead. The screen on the TV turned a blinding white, as did the gamepad. Alyssa and I quickly shielded our eyes from the light, unsure how to react in the moment. The gamepad in my hands went from room temperature to scorching hot, and I hissed sharply and dropped it to the floor, where it continued to display nothing but white.

"Okay, I'm not doing this- this creepypasta bullshit! You're on your own, Will!" Alyssa yelped, rushing toward the door and swinging it open, charging out into the street and not looking like she intended on coming back anytime soon. Thanks, sis.

Soon, a noise was emitting from the TV screen, prompting me to stand back up and look over at the television with burning curiosity. The noise got louder and more defined, before realization hit me. The noise I was hearing was _screaming_.

" _Holy shit_ ," I whispered under my breath in terror, "I'm going to burn the disc and maybe even our Wii U if this is what Nintendo's selling their consumers." And then bash it to bits with a bat.

Before I could attempt to run and hide, something flew out of the TV and rammed straight into my face, bashing the bridge of my nose open and causing it to start bleeding heavily. Barely recovering from the hard hit, I looked down with hazy vision, recognizing that the offending object was the well known hero shot Agent 3 carried, ink leaking out of a hole that was dented into it. _No fucking way_ , I thought, looking back up at the screen with wide eyes, not caring if it blinded me.

The screaming was extremely loud at this point, so loud that I tried to turn down the volume with the TV remote but to no avail. In the midst of trying to make that magic happen, a second large object flew out of the screen, crashing into my face soon after the first. This one came at me with such a force it knocked me right over the couch and onto the floor. While disoriented, I tried to glance over at whatever object had crashed into me the second time, having to squint to get my vision to focus just a tad.

Ah, an inkling.

...AN INKLING. OHH _SHIT._

Feeling light-headed, I could hear my sister come back in through the door and shrieking at the sight of us on the floor. I heard her quickly step around us and by the sound of her footsteps dulling, I could tell she was running upstairs to the bathroom, where the first aid supplies were kept. Dark spots creeping on the edges of my vision, I noticed the inkling in front of me shift just a tad, but seemingly not stirring.

My vision fell black and I lost consciousness, one more thought creeping into my mind.

Holy fucking _shit_.

* * *

 **An amazing start, amiright? Click next to find out what happens next! ;3c**


	2. This isn't so bad!

Slowly coming to, I could feel a sharp pain in my nose and winced. Groaning softly, I slowly sat up and rubbed my eyes away their sleepiness, opening them up and looking around to find myself still on the floor of the living room. Tenderly touching the bridge of my nose, I could feel the texture of bandages, most likely placed upon it by my dickhead, caring sister. I tilted my head back and sighed through my nostrils, recalling the events that occurred before I passed the fuck out.

' _Lesee_ , I thought, _Alyssa was a piece of shit, game console started going wild, glowing white light, screaming…._

I jolted back to my senses, remembering exactly how I got knocked out in the first place. Looking back at the spot where I saw the inkling before I blacked out, I was alerted to find that in its place was empty carpet, but some weird purple and pink stains lingered where the inkling once laid.

"Looking for someone?" I heard Alyssa say, the girl herself coming down the stairs. I turned my head slowly to look at her as she descended. She had changed her outfit, going from her 'fashionable' clothing to sweatpants and a loose, oversized shirt. Looking closer I could see purple and pink marks alike to the ones on the carpet upon her garbs.

"Uh, yeah. Where's the little squid dude?" I asked slowly, never imagining those words to ever come out of my mouth in my life.

"Our little 'guest' is in the guest bedroom," she snorted at her terrible humor, "He stirred awake a little after I carried him upstairs and put up a fight, but he went right back out as soon as his head hit the pillow on the bed."

I raised my brows, "He? How do you know it's a he?"

Alyssa pointed to her navy blue hair and cheered in a small singsong voice, "Ponytaaaail." She then walked over to me, examining the bandages on my nose, "I wasn't really sure on how to patch up your already ugly face, but the bleeding stopped so I'm guessing I did something right."

I rolled my eyes, jokingly pushing her away before standing up. I stretched my arms and rolled my neck a few times, before looking around with half lidded eyes, "Have you seen my glasses anywhere? I forgot to put them on when I was running late for the school bus this morning."

My sister folded her arms, scoffing, before reluctantly jabbing her hand in her pocket and handing me my glasses, "I was going to put up a scheme to make you have to earn these from me, but with our current 'situation' I was unable to carry it out, so props to you for buying a weird ass Wii U, bro."

I huffed, putting on the spectacles without a retaliation to say. Instead, I changed the subject. "Speaking of situations, where did all those marks come from?" I asked, pointing to her very purple and pink-splattered shirt and sweatpants. Then I looked up and and could accurately note the big pink stain on her cheek.

Alyssa shrugged her shoulders, proceeding to turn around and head towards the kitchen, "The little guy had a whole bunch of injuries on his arms and legs, and when I went to clean him up he woke up and started freaking out and snagged me in the face once," she grabbed a rag from inside one of the drawers, "I don't really know what was up with him, but he seemed terrified. Anyway, the cuts he had were all oozing purple shit, very goopy. The weird thing about it was that the cuts were across his ankles and his wrists, and they went _all_ around each limb, as if he had cuffs on or something."

I furrowed my brow in concern and tilted my head slightly, "So you're saying he could have purple blood or an infection of some sorts? But then again, how do you get cuts all around each of your limbs like that? That doesn't make much sense if cuffs were involved, unless they were spiked and dug into his skin or something."

Alyssa stepped over to the sink, turning the faucet and dampening the rag in cool water, "No, his blood isn't purple, surprisingly. Turns out his blood is his ink color, which I imagine is pretty confusing in his world. A pretty, red-ish pink. I could tell that was his blood color when I saw it mixed in with the purple." She squeezed the rag to let the loose water out, "From what I can tell there might've been some sort of cuffs around him, but the wounds on his wrists and ankles weren't from spike punctures."

I tapped a finger to my chin, "So why was there purple shit coming from his wounds? Is it an infection of some sort, then?" I then pointed to the wet rag she was holding, "Also, why are you getting a cold rag? What the hell kinda heist are you planning this time?"

My sister shook her head, "No. I think it actually might be Octarian ink. Y'know how purple the ink they use is? It was the same hue when I examined him. I managed to clean out most of it with a small amount of water but there's still a little left," she then rolled her eyes and hit me in the face with the rag, causing a small spike in pain in my nose, "And no, you shitbag. The rag is for the inkling, he's running a bit of a fever."

"Octarian in-What the hell kind of stupid inkling would wander their way into Octo Valley and into Octo territo…." I trailed off, realizing that the inkling we were dealing with wasn't just any common squid kid, but Agent 3, the main avatar.

"Oh my god," I whispered under my breath, slowly adjusting my glasses. Okay, great. We don't have a normal inkling in our situation, of course not. We just had to get Agent 3, the S+ ninety-nine ranked squid I had fought so hard to get to. This couldn't end well. Shaking my head, I focused on another thing she had said.

"Okay, how sick is he?"

At this she furrowed her brow, her hands making careful gestures as she thought out her sentences, "He's actually breathing pretty shallowly, the little dude also had cheeks that seemed a little too flushed to be healthy," she took a breath, "His temperature measured out to be a hundred 'n five. Sweat was practically pouring down his face, Will. He might be just going through a tough illness he needs to get through his system, or something that could be deadly to an inkling. I'd suggest we call an ambulance but...y'know, with the whole 'species not from our world' thing."

"Wow, okay um, wow. Way to make the situation sound like someone's dying, 'Lyss." I halfheartedly joked, prompting Alyssa to punch me in the arm with a small laugh. Glad I helped make the situation less upsetting, even if the outcome could be grave.

"I'm gonna go up and put the rag on his forehead, you should be useful and get a glass of water in case he wakes up." She instructed with a small grin on her face, heading out of the kitchen doorway.

I decided to make the smarter decision and grabbed a thermal water bottle instead, filling it up using the dispenser on the fridge door and twisting the top shut. I tilted it upside down to make sure it was water tight and then set on my way upstairs.

When I got to the guest room, I could see the inkling on the bed clearly. Sure enough, the guy was knocked out with his head on the pillow. I was in awe to see that it was the exact inkling I remembered playing as just yesterday when the game was working properly. I didn't care enough about the customization options to choose a specific look so I just went with whatever.

The top of his head was wrapped with a bandage, a large section of pink seeping through. I grimaced, guessing the impact of his not-so-graceful landing must've caused that. His tan skin on his cheeks was flushed a deep red-ish pink, too vibrant and noticeable to be considered healthy. Beads of sweat were dotted across his forehead, slipping down to the sheets resting below him. The mask around his eyes made it hard to see his eyelids, but looking closer I could see they were tightly shut. His mouth was open and producing a soft and slightly pitiful panting noise, the three fangs that all inklings had were visible, white as a marshmallow. Looking over the inkling, I guessed that he was around five feet tall at most.

I looked over his clothing next, all he had on was a black, long sleeved shirt and presumably the body suit he wore underneath it. Glancing at his wrists and ankles, I could see gauze wrapped around them, a small hint of pink peeking through it as well. Looking over one side of the bed, I could see a small chair with a pile of the inkling's clothes, the hero suit gear with his shoes.

"Hmmm."

"AH-Shit!" I jumped out of my skin at the sound of Alyssa humming, not even noticing that she was standing right on the other side of the bed. She snickered at my reaction but used a hand gesture to remind me to keep it down.

"I was gonna go ahead and put the rag on him but I think the black shirt and bodysuit might be making him too hot." She whispered to me, juggling the damp rag in her hands.

"What do you want _me_ to do? I'm not stripping him, that's weird." I muttered, awkwardly shoving my hands into my pockets.

My sister scoffed, "Please, stripping him should be the least of your concerns. Either way, I don't think the extra layers are gonna be doing him any good, so we'll have to get them off."

I gave her a strange look, "...Even the bodysuit? What if he's goin' commando? I swear to God I will up and leave this house if I catch my eye on any sort of squid dick."

"Oh my _God._ I'm 'boutta up and smack you, this poor little guy's running a fever and you're worried about seeing a little more than what you'd like so you're willing to potentially let him overheat? Really?"

"Okay, well, you don't have to make me seem selfish simply because I don't wanna see a squid dick." I hissed, "They could -I dunno- look weird."

Alyssa groaned, "Who cares about the dick? We just gotta take his fucking clothes off so he doesn't get in an even worse condition! Can you at least help me get the shirt off without disrupting the bandages too much?"

"If I-"

" _You won't see a fucking dick if you're just taking off the shirt you ignorant fucking sour lemon._ " She snapped, clearly not fucking around.

I flinched at Alyssa's tone, understanding that if I said something else smart she could potentially pick me up and throw me out the guest bedroom window. Literally.

Huffing through my nose, I stepped closer to the inkling and gently grabbed the bottom of his black shirt, slowly beginning to pull it over his head. I watched as my sister put the damp rag on the edge of the bed and then followed my footsteps on the other side of it, the both of us working together to get the shirt off of him without waking him up.

We had just gotten his tentacles through when suddenly he blinked awake, seeming to be extremely drowsy. My breath hitched and I looked up at Alyssa, who was staring back at me with wide eyes. Together we both sat in tense silence and watched as the inkling looked around with squinted eyes, at one point them focusing on me for around ten seconds, before he yawned and nestled himself into the pillows surrounding his body, going right back to sleep.

After a solid minute of him going back to sleep, we both exhaled in relief and continued our work, finally pulling the shirt off his body. The change wasn't instantaneous, though I could tell that without the shirt the inkling was gonna be less hot.

"Okay, okay. That wasn't disastrous. That could've been a lot worse." My sister reassured, though it seemed more directed at herself than me.

"Thank. Fucking. God." I wheezed, the stress of the situation had made my anxiety go straight through the roof. "I'm so fucking glad he was half asleep, it would've sucked to have him wake up to two total strangers stripping off his shirt."

"Well, we're more than strangers. To him, anyway. We're like...martians." Alyssa murmured, glancing over the inkling and trying to find where the zipper of his body suit was.

I watched her try to find it after a moment and then quickly spoke up, "We're less like martians and more like an odd alien race that tried to take on a similar form to him but always somehow came off a little off anyway." Then, after a moment, "Also, his zipper may be on his back."

Alyssa huffed and crossed her arms, "Yeah, you're right. It probably is. It'd be a waste of effort to try and unzip it without him waking up. Also, what the genuine _fuck,_ Will?"

I quickly tried to defend myself, "Y'know! Like those cartoons! With the aliens that'd come and be all like 'hey hey we wanna make peace 'n shit' and they'd say that they took on forms to look like us with their advanced ass technology or something."

My sister rolled her eyes and then picked up the rag from the edge of the bed and gently laid it on top of the inkling's forehead. Giving him another look, I could tell that he was definitely feeling better after removing the shirt and putting the wet rag on his head. His breathing had calmed down and he looked like he was in a pretty deep sleep.

After a moment of the two of us looking at him, Alyssa groaned and rubbed her cheeks with her hands, dragging them down her face.

"I'm gonna have to change his fucking bandageees…" She whined, "He might wake up if I try to change his bandageees…."

I snorted, "Worst case scenario is that he'll wake up and scream for like, ten seconds. I highly doubt a tiny dude like him would be able to cause significant damage to you."

My sister rubbed the back of her neck in an awkward manner, "Maybe. I dunno, I just feel like that while inklings may look defenseless and weak, they may actually be pretty hardy? I mean, who knows what they evolved to do when in a situation involving predator and prey."

"You take a long look at our rising generation and tell me how threatening they are, and then check back with me later."

Alyssa laughed, adjusting her glasses, "Okay, yeah, I getcha. Inklings probably _would_ just be on their phones and can probably only do as much as we can. Besides that whole shapeshiftin' thing of course."

…

"You _are_ gonna be right beside me in case he wakes up while I'm changing his bandages, right?"

I chose that moment to look into my sister's brown eyes, open my mouth as if I were to say something, and then immediately darted out of the room and into my own to avoid my sibling's wrath. I could hear her charging after me so as soon as I got into my bedroom I slammed the door shut, hearing the thump of my sister colliding with it.

"Fuck you too!" I heard my sister screech from the other side of the door as I held it shut.

I'm a good older brother, I promise.

* * *

 **Don't believe him, he's a terrible older brother. Click to see what happens next! ;3c**


	3. i changed my mind it was really bad

**Watch out! Some gross stuff happens later this chapter, watch out u emetophobes.**

* * *

A couple of days had passed since the incident, the two of us taking turns to check on the inkling and re-apply his bandages. He hasn't woken up since the day he came, but he was healing pretty fast. Our stock of healing supplies was growing a little low, however, so we texted our eldest brother, Terrell, if he could go out and buy some for us along with the usual groceries before he came back home today.

You may ask, "William, how have you guys not been caught by your parents yet?" Well, we don't necessarily have parents, y'see. When we were young, Alyssa and I, our parents had left us with no explanation. We had moved in with our aunt, but she was out most of the time so Terrell was forced to take care of us, and we were little asshats to him growing up. We started out in a very cramped and tiny house, but as the years went by, Terrell got bigger and better jobs, which resulted in us leaving our neglectful aunt and getting the two story house we have today. We even got a pool! A very cool brother we have.

Due to his current job, he was very 'in and out' of the house, though he always made sure to text us and call us when he could. He was never gone for too long, though one time he was gone for almost a straight month. He announced his return to the both of us via video chat yesterday, which produced a fire of worry in us that was quickly drenched as we remembered that this was our brother we were talking about, the one who nailed job interview after job interview with his warm and supportive personality, as well as his charming looks I've heard people claim he had. We had little to no doubt that he'd accept the inkling in our household, as long as we introduced him carefully.

"WILLIAM! GET UP! Terrell's home! He brought breakfast, too! He's got pancakes and everything!" I woke up with a start, Alyssa's loud call startling me awake.

Mumbling curse words directed at my sister despite her being out of range, I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes before stretching and giving a deep yawn, absentmindedly scratching at my neck. Shoving off the warm and comforting blankets that once covered my body, I was forced to embrace the cool and unwelcoming air around me as I got up.

Swinging my feet around to the side of my bed, I managed to slowly stand up, another yawn escaping my mouth. Lightly stumbling to my dresser, I pulled on a pale yellow shirt and some blue jeans, a plain and simple outfit. Spotting my glasses on the top of the dresser, I quickly put them on, the bandage upon my nose making it slightly askew, but it didn't bother me much.

To my left side, I saw a mirror that held my reflection, so I decided to take the time to examine myself. I wasn't the tallest guy for my age, only 5'4 while my sister was 5'6. I was also the same dark brown as my sister, only I had no noticeable freckles on my face like she did. The bandage on my nose was a very easily spotted contrast against my skin, so sneaking around in dark areas would be a no-no. My eyes were the exact same hue as my sisters, a nice choco-brown. Around them were my glasses, a very basic pair that had no touch ups or anything a typical teenager would have, but I loved them anyway. My hair was very loosely tied into a bun alike my sisters, only my hair color was a natural black rather than her dyed blue.

About to head out the door, I looked over my room. Messy, but not horrendously messy. Perfect. My dirty clothes from yesterday were scattered along the floor, and my bed wasn't made because honestly, who would make their bed if they're going to sleep in it just hours later?

Leaving my room, I walked down the hallway to the staircase, looking down from the banister. I spotted Alyssa and Terrell on the couch, happily eating freshly made pancakes that our older brother must've picked up before he arrived. Terrell was a well built man, since he went to the gym regularly, though he was as gentle as a mother cat. His hair was cut short and his face was warm and welcoming so he managed to strike up many conversations with random people who felt relaxed in his presence. Nearby were our two pets that he picked up from the kennel on his way home, our dog named Pepper, and our kitten named Salt. Despite their names, they were both very friendly animals, both to humans and to each other.

Pepper was a very peppy shiba inu, her coat was a nice charcoal black but her snout was was a mix of brown and white. She often played with Salt, our small and curious white munchkin kitten who never denied playing a game or two with her. The two were practically best friends, always chilling next to each other and never fighting. We were blessed with a good kitten and dog, thank you pet gods for whoever let this happen to us.

Dashing down the stairs, I ran over to Pepper and gave her a good pet on the head, and then lowering myself to gently scratch under Salt's chin, the kitten mewling in delight. After implanting the adorable sound in my memory forever, I turned over to Terrell and grabbed his shoulders, startling him into pausing in his chewing.

" _Where the hell is the food, you have ten seconds or I will become cannibalistic._ " I jokingly growled at him, to which he chuckled at.

He swallowed his bite and pointed towards the kitchen, "Your pancake stack is in there, I got 'em made with chocolate chips just how you always like it. Alyssa told me about your little 'guest', so I got another stack for him to enjoy too. Then again, she didn't really 'tell' me right off the bat, so I had to go see for myself."

I stood there flabbergasted, before angrily turning to my younger sister. She backed into the cushion on the couch, able to easily sense my fury, before speaking up.

"You know I'm not a good liar!"

"But you're a good manipulator, couldn't you have kept him away until I woke up?!"

"You know full well that Terrell can tell when I'm trying to change his direction!"

I huffed, "Well, you could've tried a little harder."

"Oh! So you think I don't try my hardest, huh? Is that it?"

"Yes it _fucking is_ you-"

"William. Alyssa." Terrell firmly stated our names in that 'I'm not taking this shit today' parent voice, prompting the both of us to shut our mouths before we said anything else stupid. "Will, you should head to the kitchen and pick up the pancakes, both for you and our 'guest'. We'll eat our breakfast, and then go up and check on the little guy, alright? Calm down, no need to attack each other."

Roughly exhaling through my nose but not daring to roll my eyes, I grumpily trudged over to the kitchen, spotting the still hot pancakes on the counter. One stack was, sure enough, chocolate chip pancakes, making me lustfully lick my lips as I stared them down. Another stack next to them were plain buttermilk pancakes, complete with butter and syrup on top. I gently took both plates of pancakes into my hands, heading back into the living room with a fork in my mouth.

We sat and ate on the couch for a couple of minutes, silently watching TV and appreciating our time together after Terrell's return. Soon after we finished the last of the pancakes, me licking my plate of its syrup before Alyssa oh so rudely snatched it from my hands, off to wash the dishes. She stuck her tongue out at me before walking to the kitchen, so I flashed her a finger when Terrell wasn't looking, like a good older brother.

My older sibling stretched for a second, before exhaling a relieving sigh through his mouth, "Okay...Ready to go feed our unconscious guest that you two have been caring for in this house without me knowing for almost a week?"

I put on the best poker face I could muster, " _ **Yes.**_ "

Terrell laughed, warmly patting me on my shoulder before reaching down and picking up the pancakes from the coffee table and shooing off Pepper, who was starting to grow nosy. Alyssa saw us heading up the stairs on her way out from the kitchen, hurrying up to join us on our ascent.

Amused, I put on a sly smile, "Don't you have dishes to wash?"

She nonchalantly waved her hand, "Dishes smishes, I want to see the inkling dude finally wake up after doing nothing but changing his bandages every so often. Plus, if he doesn't like pancakes, I could just take them instead."

"Oink oink." I mocked her in a teasing tone, prompting my sister to stick her tongue right out at me.

Terrell opened the door to the guest bedroom, the inkling still resting on the bed but looking much more healthier than on day one. His cheeks weren't as flushed and he seemed less tense, looking like he was sleeping after an exhausting day rather than recovering from a fever. His pointed ear twitched at the sound of us all quietly walking in, but he showed no signs of waking up.

Gently lowering himself on the bed, Terrell reached an arm out and slowly shook the inkling in hopes of waking him. The boy stirred slightly, turning over onto his side and opening his eyes for a split second before heading right back under, still too tired to properly wake up. Terrell gave an amused hum before grabbing the fork with the buttermilk pancakes and tearing off a piece, steadily waving it under the kid's nose.

That did the trick. The inkling slowly woke up, stretching his arms as he yawned and murmuring something under his breath in what seemed to be agitation. He gently rubbed his eyes before blinking them open and slowly taking in the world around him. Bright, lime green eyes looked around the room, quickly focusing on the beings before him, us.

Alyssa and I glanced at each other for a moment, apprehensive to whatever the inkling could be thinking as he stared at us. After a couple more moments of awkward, tense silence, I slowly began to speak up.

"Uhh, hi. You've-uhh-you've been in our house for a while and you got pretty banged up. You-uh...you feeling okay? You understand me?"

All I got was a blank stare in reply. Of course. I could hear Alyssa take in a breath to say some sort of snarky comment, so I stomped on her foot to keep her quiet. The inkling stared at me for a moment, then glanced at the forkful of pancake Terrell was still holding in front of him expectantly. There was a slight pause and we all could hear his stomach growl quite loudly in the silence, prompting the inkling to stutter and look off to the side in embarrassment with his cheeks flushed bright pink.

"C'mon." Terrell encouraged, pushing the plate of pancakes toward the blushing inkling and handing him the fork, "Eat. I know you're hungry."

His eyes flickered up at Terrell's face, unsure, before he took a small, hesitant bite off the pancake on the fork.

His face lit up and he quickly went at it, the little inkling happily digging into the pancakes after realizing just how hungry he was. He was going so fast that Terrell had to pat his back when he choked on his food like seven times. He managed to scarf down four pancakes in a manner of minutes before pushing away the rest of the stack with a content expression on his face.

Alyssa was quick to nab the leftover pancakes, immediately going to inhale the food like the pig she was. Within a minute she had cleaned the plate, which had to be some kind of record or something.

Rolling my eyes, I went to the side of the bed and squatted down to the inkling's height, holding out a hand for a kind handshake, "Hey, little dude. I'm William. What's your name?"

Instead of receiving the polite handshake I was expecting, I got a defensive growl, the inkling baring his teeth and shrinking back against the pillow he was leaning against. Alarmed, I backed away with both hands in the air in a defensive gesture, glaring at my sister who was hiding her laughter behind her hands. The kid didn't change his posture, looking at me warily before shifting his gaze over to Terrell, who was still on the bed but a reasonable distance away from him.

Terrell saw the unease in the inkling's stare and stood up off the bed, backing away too. We all stood there for a moment, watching the inkling's eyes jump from looking at one of us to the next, his posture unchanging.

Alyssa spoke up in an angry whisper, "Pretty smart of him to eat pancakes offered to him by total strangers and _then_ act like we're the bad guys."

Terrell sighed, "He was just trying to fill his stomach and has every right to be wary of us. Go easy on him, he's possibly just incredibly terrified, we _are_ absolute strangers to him."

I shrugged, "Plus, he's still kinda sick. If you had just possibly gone through hell, came in through a portal, and woke up feeling incredibly hungry and confused, you'd probably be a little irritable too."

After a couple more moments of my siblings and I having a stare down with the inkling, the squid made the first move.

Hopping off the bed with a speed to envy, the inkling darted over to the only window in the room and tried to pry it open to no avail. The effort behind it was clear when he whipped back around, already starting to pant heavily. He was trying to escape.

Terrell quickly instructed Alyssa to shut the door and for me to stand back so we wouldn't get hurt. He then slowly stepped toward the inkling and tried to get him to calm down with a soft voice, but the kid wasn't having it. When Terrell got close enough, he started shaking in immense terror and looked like a cornered puppy. Then, right when Terrell was going to 'trap' him in the corner, he lunged forward and sunk his teeth into my older brother's arm.

Alyssa and I both screamed at the sight and Terrell grunted, furrowing his brow and trying to get the inkling off of his arm. No matter how hard he tried, however, the inkling stayed on and seemed to sink his teeth in even further. After a second, he let go and swiftly kicked Terrell in the shin as hard as he could before running over to Alyssa and I.

We both had a mini stare down with him, while he was staring right back up at us. His bright green eyes flickered between the two of us before he quickly made his move.

"FUCK!" I yelped as he lunged at me, the force of him crashing into me knocking us to the floor. I wheezed after the impact and didn't get to recover before he stood up and kicked me straight in the sack with as much force as he could. I could feel my lower half dying and rotting on its deathbed as I curled up in agony and watched with watery eyes as he slowly turned to my sister and stepped towards her, my sister in turn backing against the exit to the room.

He looked like he was about to attack her when he suddenly fell to his knees, holding himself up with his shaky arms. He strained to stand up and when my sister bent down to make sure he was alright, he straight up spat into her face.

Well, not necessarily _spat_ but a thin stream of his ink flew from his mouth and into her face. More importantly, her open mouth.

Naturally she screamed, then choked, then frantically began trying to spit it out of her mouth, completely distracted from the inkling, who had a clear path to the door and gladly threw it open before running out into the hallway.

Apparently he wasn't faking the whole 'struggling to stand' shit, as he immediately collapsed a few steps out right down onto his knees and was starting to make a gagging noise.

 _Ahhh fuck._

I took a small breath, and then a couple more to get my breathing under control because holy _FUCK THIS HURTS._ Trying my damned hardest to bear through the pain of my nuts getting assaulted, I slowly crawled over to the inkling, the kid covering his mouth with his hands and had his eyes squinted shut. With a bit of effort I sat up into an odd position to keep my lower half from screaming, resting beside him and rubbing his back in a comforting manner.

Soon after I began rubbing his back I saw him lurch forward, gross vomit leaking between his fingers and onto the carpet floor. I scrunched my nose at the sight but despite it I kept rubbing his back, knowing that he probably upset his stomach with all that activity he did to try and escape.

By the time he threw up a second time on the floor I could see Terrell walking toward us with a slight limp and bleeding arm. He crouched down in front of the inkling and gently patted his shoulder in sympathy with his good arm before taking my still shrieking sister and helping her out of the room.

I looked back down at the inkling and saw him trembling before vomiting what he had left in his stomach, adding to the gross pile of slightly digested pancakes in stomach acid. The inkling sat there for a second to get his bearings before he turned to look up at me, looking incredibly distressed.

He shuddered, hot tears gathering in the corner of his eyes and slowly slipping down his red cheeks. The poor dude tried to stand and slowly walk away from the gross pile he created in one last attempt to leave, though only got a couple of steps in before he promptly collapsed onto the floor and passed right back out.

At that moment, Terrell walked back into the room and saw the inkling passed out onto the floor and me just sitting there with a blank look on my face.

He sighed, "I'll get the carpet cleaner. Will, you should shower. Or at least change your clothes."

I gave him a look, "Why? It's already a huge effort as it is to change my clothes, plus I'm not really in the best of shape to do literally _anything_ right now."

"Because the inkling wiped some of the puke on his fingers onto your pants." He informed on his way out the door.

Sure enough, looking down at my pants I could see the streak marks of gross, mushy, brown puke on my pants and I immediately hobbled out of the guest room and into my bedroom for a change of clothes. As soon as I got my pants off I tossed them out of my room and into the hallway, those pants were now a disgrace to me and my family.

Do you guys have any sources on where to buy or rent a flamethrower? Asking for a friend.

* * *

 **the inkling's quite the charmer, would yall date him?**


	4. It's not so bad again!

A little after that whole fiasco ended, Terrell, now with a bandaged arm, carried the half-conscious inkling back into the guest bedroom bridal style after washing off his hands in the bathroom. The kid was mumbling something in his language under his breath, looking exhausted and much sicker than before now that the adrenaline was fading away. Settling the inkling back into the bed, Terrell sighed and backed away, resting his hands against his hips and scolding the inkling.

"You see what happens when you overexert yourself? Now you're back in bed, probably feeling worse than you did before. I understand you're scared, but that's no reason to completely flip out like that after we fed you. You're still a little sick." He berated the inkling gently. Despite the language barrier, the boy knew he was being scolded and had a guilty look on his face, refusing to make eye contact with Terrell.

My brother closed his eyes in frustration, putting a hand against his face and dragging it down slowly.

He then turned to me, "Will, could you watch him while I clean up the hallway? I'd get Alyssa to help out but she's downstairs making him a small sandwich to fill up his stomach again."

"No prob." I lied, flashing him a thumbs up. Of course it was a goddamn "Prob," this little asshole just fucking gave me the famous Kick of Infertility. I'd be lucky if I could even piss after this.

My brother sighed, "I'll try to remember to get you some ice so you can sit comfortably. Try not to be harsh with him, alright? You would've done the same thing in his situation."

I scoffed, "No, I would've sat on my bed and tried to get along with the strangers who took me into their home like a good houseguest."

"Will, you see his bandages? He's been hurt, he's scared, and he's sick. He may have kicked you and bit me, but for all we know he could've been in deep trouble before he 'flew in here'. Speaking of which, did he really…?"

I nodded, "Yeah, flew right into me from the TV and knocked me out faster than a John Cena playing Punch Out."

Terrell chuckled as he started heading for the door, "I'm pretty sure John Cena's wrestling abilities has no relevance to a _boxing_ game."

I stared at the door once he was gone.

...There's a difference between wrestling and boxing? Oh...my God, I thought they were interchangeable this entire time. What the fuck.

Deciding to leave that thought for later, I looked back at the inkling on the guest bed. He was looking around the room, studying every detail before his gaze eventually met mine. I hate to say it but he actually looked...cute, despite the fact that he kicked me in the good ol' penis necklace. Credits to my sis for that one.

After a short period of time, the inkling sighed and pushed the covers of the bed off of him. I was prepared to run in case he was thinking about doing another one of those 'escape plans' of his, but instead he just crawled along the bed over in my direction and sat on the edge. His feet hanged off the side and he kicked them back and forth as if he was a kindergartener while he stared down at the floor in awkward silence.

"Uh...hi?" I hesitantly greeted him, to which he replied with what I assume was a greeting in his language too. Another awkward pause passed and afterwards I sat on the edge of the bed next to him, my feet reaching the floor with ease. The inkling briefly glanced up at me but quickly stared back down at his lap as he twiddled his thumbs and swung his feet back and forth.

I looked down at him for a moment, taking it all in. A living, breathing inkling was in the same room as me, sitting on the same bed as me. He was real and he somehow can survive and he's sitting right next to me, twiddling his thumbs. And he was an asshole.

I slowly raised my hand and held it over to his face, the inkling turning his gaze and staring at it curiously. After a bit of staring, his eyes flickered to me and he let out a confused chirp.

Then I flicked his forehead. He deserved _some_ kind of punishment for earlier, and honestly this was the bare minimum. He yelped and rubbed the area on his forehead with his hand while bitterly glaring at me, then stuck his tongue out.

Can't say he was expecting to be promptly shoved off the bed in retaliation with a startled scream. He landed on the floor with a harsh thump and cried out in pain, which made me realize that this dude was still injured and I could get in trouble for doing that. However, there seemed to be no sore feelings and instead the inkling rolled onto his back and looked up at me with a playful pout, understanding that I was just messing with him. Then he held his arms up, asking to be lifted from the floor since it'd probably ache for him to get up himself.

Instead of doing that, I got up and left the room to leave him to die.

…

…

…..Fine, I won't leave him to die. Extremely tempting, though. I actually just slowly walked out and shut the door and kept my laughter to myself as I heard him angrily chattering something in his gurgly language after me. Honestly, he deserved this.

Now that I was in the hallway, I turned around and saw Terrell crouched down on the carpet floor with cleaning supplies surround him, finishing up cleaning the slightly ingested pancakes the little dude spewed out earlier. He noticed me standing there and raised his eyebrows, most likely wondering why I left the inkling in his room by himself.

"...Is he alright?"

"Oh. Yeah, he's fine."

There was a pause.

Rightfully suspicious, Terrell stood up and walked to the guest room door, twisting the doorknob and opening it. He peeked into the room and started chuckling, which made me curious enough to look in myself.

The inkling was still laying on the floor, bitterly staring up at the ceiling with his arms to his side and his fists clenched. He didn't even spare us a glance as we peeked in, though I could tell he heard us from his ear twitching ever so slightly. Terrell walked into the room and stood above the inkling with amusement, and watched as the inkling looked up at him and held his arms up, begging to be helped from the floor.

My brother's kind nature made him give in and I frowned as he bent down and helped the inkling to his feet. Turning around, the inkling caught my gaze and again stuck his tongue out at me, though it was Terrell this time who flicked his forehead, disapproving of his behavior. When Terrell averted his gaze from the two of us for a millisecond, I quickly stuck my tongue out at the inkling and snickered at his offended expression.

Terrell stepped over to the door and let out a gentle sigh, "I'll go put the cleaning supplies away and get you the ice. You two, stay out of trouble and don't do anything stupid. You," He pointed at the inkling, who shrank back at the gesture, "don't get yourself sick again, you need to rest." He then pointed at the bed.

Catching the gist of what he was saying based on his tone, the inkling shyly looked down at the floor and nodded before plopping himself back onto the bed with no complaints. Terrell gave him a quick smile and then looked in my direction.

"Try not to agitate him too much, alright? Knowing you, you'd probably get him running around the house in ten minutes at least."

"That's a lie, I could get him running in five." I joked, to which he laughed and patted my shoulder before going out the door and shutting it.

Now that he was gone, I glanced back at the inkling sitting on the bed, who caught my gaze and stuck his tongue back out at me. Naturally, I shoved him off the bed onto the floor and took his place, laying back and closing my eyes.

He whined for a little bit while on the floor, then suddenly stopped. I thought nothing of it until I heard what sounded like crying, and immediately sat up and looked down at the floor. The guy was sitting on his back with watery, lime green eyes staring right up at me. His mouth was trembling and he look like he was going to straight up burst into tears.

Feeling guilty, I rolled myself to the edge of the bed and swung my legs over the side before standing up and stretching briefly. Sighing, I trudged over to the inkling and looked down at him with a sympathetic expression, bending down and pulling him to his feet because he looked too goddamn pitiful just laying there.

I helped him onto the bed and cleaned off his outfit of any bits of lint or dust that may have gotten onto it, the inkling staying silent the entire time. Once I was done, I patted the dude's head to say I was sorry and then laid back onto the bed and shut my eyes.

...

Without warning, I felt myself being quickly shoved off the bed and onto the floor, not given enough time to react. I yelped as I hit the carpet, the shock leaving me stunned for a moment. As I got my bearings, I heard high pitched laughter coming from on top of the bed and looked up to see that asshole looking down at me with a large grin. Fucking dickbag used crocodile tears and actually fooled me!

Standing up, I glowered down at the inkling and watched as his laughter died down and he looked up at me in fear. That's right, you're gonna pay, you little _shit_.

I immediately pinned one of the inkling's arms down and tickled his sides, causing him to start shrieking and desperately kick the air in an attempt to get me off of him. His shrieks turned into laughter and he started to claw at me with his free hand, resulting in me pinning that one down too. Due to both of my arms being taken up, I had to stop for a second and think of another way to get back at him as he caught his breath. The inkling's face was completely flushed and joyful tears were pricking in the corners of his eyes, his chest heaved with every breath and his eyes were closed tightly shut.

After a moment, a genius idea came to mind. In the midst of him recovering, I let go of one of his arms and rolled up his shirt before taking in a giant breath and blew raspberries on his stomach. The results were immediate, the inkling literally screamed and started giggling rapidly, kicking his feet even faster and harder than before. Sometimes they actually would hit me in the stomach and I'd have to stop for a second, but I would continue on despite the pain since it was definitely worth it.

Eventually I let up on the inkling, letting him fully catch his breath and lay down on the bed in peace. His tentacles awkwardly bent due to his head laying straight down onto the mattress, so I did him a favor and slipped his tentacle-band off while he was still recovering. It was interesting to see it in real life, as it looked exactly how it did in the game. Green, yellow, and red plastic covering with an elastic band keeping it all together.

The inkling eventually caught his breath and sat up, tentacles flopping down to the sides of his head, looking exhausted most likely due to being excessively tickled plus still being a little ill. He closed his eyes and yawned before shaking his head and blinking his eyes open, prolonging his need to pass out. He looked over at me and stared for a moment, before pointing at me and saying something in a demanding tone.

I furrowed my brow and gave him a weird look, "What? What do you want?"

He groaned and shuffled closer to me on the bed before taking his finger and thrusting it against my chest and saying the same thing in a more insistent tone. Was he...asking for my name?

"You do realize I don't speak your language, right? I don't understand your weird little 'drowning while speaking' gurgly voice. You probably wouldn't be able to pronounce my name no matter how much you tried and same for me." I pointed out, earning nothing but a head tilt in reply.

I sighed, feeling a little exasperated. I pointed at myself, thinking that I might as well humor him and at least let him attempt my name. "William. Wiiiill-iiii-aaaam." I pronounced, saying it once normally and then slowly sounding it out.

The inkling had an iffy look on his face, unsure as to what he heard. He murmured something in his language, his ears twitching in slight irritation. Then he looked up at me, hesitantly saying my name and getting it wrong.

"Will-ee-ehm?" He uttered unsurely, a noticeable gurgling sound in his speech. I shook my head, saying my name once more in a patient tone. It was most likely the first time he ever said something that was close to the English language.

"Will-ee-ehm!" He chirped louder, a hint of confusion hidden in his gurgly voice. I shrugged, choosing to accept what he could give me. I made a mental note to teach him my name once he was more accustomed to English and its words.

"Close enough."

I then pointed at him, "What's your name, then?"

He proceeded to make the most ungodly, scratchiest, weirdest fucking noise I've ever heard. I shrunk back for a second, disbelieving what I heard. I made a gesture for him to say it again, and got the same exact results.

"Yeah, okay. I'm not calling you that." I stated bluntly. Tilting my head in contemplation, I thought about a name to call the inkling in the meantime until I found out his real name. Spot? Fuck no, that's dehumanizing him to an animal. Well, he sorta was an animal, but he was also human too. But then again, he wasn't a human, he was a squid. But he was a squid that over time evolved into a human-like creature capable of sentient thought akin to ours. What?

Choosing not to think about it, I decided to name him something simple.

"Tenta." I pointed at the inkling, now named Tenta. He scowled, angrily gurgling something at me, probably cursing. I smirked, "That's your name now. Tenta."

He didn't like the name, apparently. I got the hint when he hissed distastefully and crossed his arms. I shrugged nonchalantly, flashing a sly, mocking smile at him. I knew he could tell that I named him something stupid.

Suddenly, the door to the guest room opened back up and my sister poked her head inside. We all held eye contact with each other for a moment before she stepped into the room, one hand holding a plate with a sandwich and the other holding a bag of ice.

"Sup."

"Yo." As you can see, we both had very formal and educated vocabularies used among those with the highest intelligence on earth.

She slowly walked up to Tenta, holding out the sandwich to him, "I know you spat God knows what into my mouth and have possibly given me many fish diseases, but I'm willing to put that aside and give you a second chance. Here's a peace offering, a delicious tuna sandwich. Also, you look stupid with your tentacles by your face like that."

"Why the hell would you use tu-" I attempted to complain.

"'Cuz he's an inkling. It was a thought process, y'know? Make sandwich for inkling. Inkling is a squid. Squids like fish. Tuna _is_ fish. Therefore, inklings must love tuna because they're squids."

"How do you know? Maybe Tenta's more of a beef fan."

"I-Will-How do yo- _No_. First of all, he's eating the sandwich and seems to like it _and I highly doubt they have cows after ten thousand years of flooded oceans and land war_." She deadpanned, "Second of all- _Really, Will? Really?_ That's the name you come up with? I mean, I knew your creativity was dead since kindergarten when you drew literally nothing but yourself, but this is a whole new level. Third of all-"

A stream of pink ink flew directly into her face from Tenta's mouth, cutting her off. We both gawked in surprise and turned our attention to Tenta, seeing him sitting there with a bitter look on his face, glaring at Alyssa.

Oh _._

"..."

"..."

After a pause, Alyssa proceeded to spit the ink into my face and held out her other hand that held the bag of ice to me, "Here's your frozen dick water."

She then turned to the inkling, jabbing her finger into his forehead, "You're on thin ice, buddy. I made you a sandwich and you literally spat in my face. _Fuck you._ "

I scoffed, "Oh so when you spit in my face it's fine, but when an innocent little sweetheart mistakenly gets a little saliva into yours it's suddenly offensive?"

Alyssa wiped off the ink on her face with her bare hands. Looking around for something to clean her hands off with, she eventually decided to choose my face and shirt to clean off her hands. She was delicate with it too, forcefully smearing it into my face and trying to suffocate me with the pent up anger and rage every little sister has.

"'INNOCENT LITTLE SWEETHEART' MY ASS!" My sister hissed as she fought to cover my face in Tenta's weird mouth ink. I desperately tried to pry her away from me because Sensitive Dick On Board, but she managed to nearly completely cover my face in the pink ink. So now we were two weird black kids covered in pink goo.

There was a quick silence.

"...Y'know, in the inkling world-" I started.

"No."

I bursted out laughing, "N-No! Seriously, I'm being serious. Swear on it."

My sister huffed through her nose, the pink ink covering it flying off onto the carpet, "I don't care."

"So- uh- ink that comes from inklings…evaporates."

"Oh! Oh yeah," My sister exclaimed sarcastically, "I'm totally going to wait for like twenty minutes for this ink to evaporate. I'll sit in the sun if I have to, just to get this stuff right off my face instead of washing it off with water and drying myself off with a towel like a normal person."

"Actually it takes just three minutes, presumably more if-"

She stood up and walked out the door, "Bye."

A slightly awkward silence filled the room. I turned to the inkling, who glanced up at me before looking back at the door. Then looked back at me, face seeming to ask 'what's her deal?'

I then put my hand on his face and promptly shoved him off the bed. While him having a dislike for my sister was funny, it still was a little dickish of him to go at her like that. This was gonna be my prime form of punishment from now on. Shoving him off beds.

"I know you don't seem to like her much, but she's my sis and you gotta ease up on her a bit. She may be sarcastic and rude, plus a bit of a bitch at times, but she's still my sis and you should get along with her."

Tenta just stared at me blankly from the floor. Right, language barrier. Forgot all about that.

I sighed, "Forget it. Also, I'm still pissed at you for kicking my nuts. I'm also a little impressed; how the hell did you and your noodle limbs manage to fucking obliterate my nutsack?"

Tenta gave me nothing but an odd stare and a confused chirp.

I scratched my ear to get rid of a mild itch, "We really gotta teach you English, or some key words at least. Y'know, like 'eat' or 'stay' or 'hello', little things like that. Well, it'd be more like training you like a pet since we don't have an 'English to Inkese' dictionary or whatever to teach you better. How fast do you pick up words?"

Tenta hummed, seeming to just go with whatever I was saying. Okay, yes, I was talking to him even though it's a one-sided conversation. Sue me, it enhances the learning process. I definitely didn't say that to try and sound smart.

"Tenta."

He chirped in acknowledgement. Great, despite his bitterness towards his new name he still accepted it.

"Tenta, come." I instructed, patting the empty space next to me on the bed. Little things first.

I heard him groan and saw him slowly pick himself up off the floor. He winced a bit -the injuries must've been agitated- before climbing onto the bed next to me and flopping down face first. Alright, 'come' was the first officially taught word. Progress has been made and I deserve at least three trophies. Four for having a crushed dick and still managing to live.

After a moment, I touched my face, briefly remembering that Alyssa so graciously decided to share the fate she had endured with me. I didn't feel any pink goop on my face, plus I didn't see any on my shirt, so I assume the right to...assume that...that shit evaporated. Y'know, on second thought, maybe I should get an actual English expert to teach him how to speak since I'm absolute shit at it.

Wanting to get off my ass and go downstairs, I took in a small breath and slowly stood up. The bag of ice fell to my feet and I took a couple of experimental steps to judge the amount of pain I would have. Good news, my dick was perfect.

I turned to Tenta, who was still face down into the blankets. "Let's go." I ordered, shaking him gently.

No response.

I shook him harder.

Still no response.

"Fuck, fuck! Please don't tell me I killed you!" I panicked, urgently rolling him off his stomach and onto his back. Inklings are so much more fragile than I thought, what if I caused some sort of fatal internal bleeding?

Oh, nope, he was just sleeping. His limbs were awkwardly sprawled out on the bed, his mouth open with little snores coming from it. He _did_ seem a little tired earlier, but I didn't think he'd fall asleep that fast. I pressed my hands to my face and slid them down my cheeks, embarrassed that I flipped out over something so minor.

I had a couple of options here. One, leave him to die peacefully. Two, revive him and force him to come downstairs with me. And three, carry his corpse on my back downstairs and let him rot on the couch.

I decided to go with option one. At this point I was sure he trusted me and siblings not to hurt him, and I trusted him not to try and escape out the window like he initially planned. Plus, he could definitely use the sleep. Despite being on a constant snooze cruise until recently, Tenta looked exhausted and still was recovering from...whatever he went through.

As I quietly stepped out the room to not wake the inkling, I made a mental note to ask him about whatever he went through before he flew in when he learned enough words. A small pang of guilt hit me square in the chest as I thought about his injuries and just how _terrified_ he was when we first met. He shouldn't have bit Terrell, spat in Alyssa's face, nor kicked me in the nuts...but on that first day when he first came, he clearly looked like he faced some sort of abuse. The worst part about it is that it may have come from the Octarians.

What did they do to him? Why did they do it? Do they not understand that he's only fourteen? He's so young and doing so much...Is there more to Splatoon than what's shown on the screen?

I pondered the thought as I stepped down the stairs, mind completely zoned out from the outside world. I didn't even notice my brother snapping his fingers in front of my face until he did it around five times.

"Will? You okay?" He asked with a concerned tone, "You don't normally space out like that."

I shook my head, "It's fine, it's fine. I was just thinking about Tenta's perspective in all this."

"Who?"

"Tenta."

"Could you be a little more specific?"

"...His name is Tenta?"

My brother chuckled, "You keep saying the name but you haven't told me who specifically you're talking about. Is that the inkling's name or something?"

Oh. "Yeah. I named him that."

"..."

"..."

"...William." Shit.

"Yes?"

"You-"

"Uh-huh?"

"You... _named_ hi-"

"Absolutely!"

My brother gave me the most exasperated look he could muster. It was times like these I felt just a little bad for him having to put up with me.

"...Right. Alright." He sighed in defeat. I win.

I couldn't help but mess with him a little more. "In case you didn't know, the name stemmed from the word te-"

"Tentacle. Yes, I've realized that." Terrell deadpanned, pinching the bridge of his nose with his finger and thumb. After a moment, he sighed once more and walked to the couch, slouching on it and looking ready to pass out. I sat down right beside him and enjoyed the peaceful almost-silence with the TV running but not on a channel we cared about.

Eventually, Alyssa came into the room as well from upstairs, looking bored out of her mind. She looked around warily for Tenta in case he was with us and let out a relieved sigh when she realized he wasn't there. Then she plopped down on the couch on the other side of Terrell, completing the list of necessary materials we needed for the satanic ritual.

Salt and Pepper came into the room after a little while too, playing around on the floor and mock fighting each other. Salt would swat at Pepper's snout while on her back and Pepper would awkwardly raise a paw and bop the kitten on the head. While they had a very big size difference, they both still loved each other and constantly played when they could.

I had zoned out yet again when Terrell tapped me on the shoulder and pointed toward the stairs. I glanced up and spotted Tenta coming down the stairs still looking drowsy. He rubbed his eyes with a hand in an attempt to wake himself up, but judging by the light sway on his feet and the yawns leaving his mouth I could tell he still needed a bit more rest.

The seasonings (a nickname for Salt and Pepper) both stopped in their playtime and immediately went to investigate the new presence in the room. Salt was slow in her approach to Tenta, curious but cautious. Pepper was more reckless, jogging with a pep in her step toward the inkling, sniffing the air for new scents.

Tenta immediately halted any moment when he spotted the two animals, looking at the two warily. He glanced up at us for a split second before staring down the seasonings with an unreadable expression, slowly inching back up the stairs backwards. Was he scared of them?

Unfortunately for him, the seasonings picked up on what was happening and slowly followed, their little paws taking small steps for each inch Tenta moved back. Clearly they both thought it was a game, Salt's tail swirling around playfully and Pepper's tail excitedly swinging back and forth. Tenta, however, looked more and more apprehensive at each coming second. He was looking up at us now, silently pleading for us to help him. Thing was, I didn't wanna help him 'cuz he was a bastard.

Terrell had stood and was making his way over to them, but as soon as Pepper barked, the inkling bolted up the stairs with a loud yelp, speed surprisingly fast. Both of the seasonings moved to chase after him, but the more evil of the two was stopped by Terrell, the dog desperately trying to wriggle out of his grip and barking nonstop but to no avail. Salt was still on the loose however, and was definitely faster than Pepper and could catch up to the inkling if she wanted, but she liked to toy with her victims first.

It took a minute, but eventually Tenta came racing back down the stairs, Salt following after him. The inkling dashed towards us all with a panicked expression and quickly turned his gaze to me, the person sitting on the couch and minding his damn business. Once he was close enough, Tenta immediately leaped off the carpet floor and onto the couch, before proceeding to climb on top of me and despite my protests and yelps of pain, held a death grip on me while seated awkwardly on my shoulders.

Salt was at my feet, meowing loudly in displeasure now that her prey was out of reach. She leaped onto the couch and tried to climb up my goddamn body just like Tenta did, but I adamantly refused and placed her back onto the floor since she had sharp claws that could dig into my flesh and kill me. Plus, as soon as she even got close to my foot, Tenta started snarling exactly like a wolf and I was terrified for both her and _my_ life in that moment. What kind of inkling can snarl and sound just like a wolf who woke up on the wrong side of the ground? Geez.

It took a lot of coaxing to get Tenta to climb off my shoulders and even try to get to know the Seasonings. We introduced Pepper first, keeping her in Terrell's arms so she wouldn't go overboard and potentially make Tenta lose it. She wiggled eagerly in his grasp and just wanted to get loose and play with the inkling, but her attitude could be overbearing for a creature who's never seen a dog before in his life. Lots of people love dogs, though, so would an inkling really be an exception?

Yeah. An inkling would, as a matter of fact. Tenta hated Pepper's guts. He despised her, didn't want another second with poor Pepper in his personal space. Anytime she leaned in to try and lick him or at least get a good sniff in he'd get this dark look on his face and while it was cute, it was also the face of _danger._ At least he didn't seem scared of her anymore, just agitated and ready to rip her to shreds. The dog eventually got the message from his body language towards her and kept her distance, knowing she'd be up against some serious shit if she tried anything. It wasn't often we would see someone have a large distaste for dogs, but I didn't blame Tenta at all considering this was his first time meeting one and he didn't start off on the right foot with it.

With Salt, however, they were instant best friends. It took significantly less effort to get Tenta to warm up to the kitten, plus she was much calmer and softer looking than Pepper. Tenta went from shying away from Salt and trying to hastily climb onto my shoulders again to laying on the couch with her and playing with her using one of her mouse toys. He even knew the sweet spot behind her ears when he petted her, which made me wonder if he had previous experience with a ca- Oh _riiiiight_. Still, I wonder why he was so apprehensive about her since she was a cat just like Judd.

With that situation handled and dealt with, we all sat back down on the couch, Alyssa seated the furthest away from Tenta of course. Terrell and I watched the tv and made occasional comments about it while Alyssa quietly went on her phone and texted those so called 'friends' of hers. They were absolute assholes if you asked me, but Alyssa had a case of Friendship Stockholm Syndrome and believed they were her best friends and that they were great to her despite being shitheads. If they came at me like they did to her, I'd tell them to shove a stick right up their a-

"William!"

I was snapped out of my thoughts when Terrell called my name, "Wha-Yeah?"

"You've been pretty lost in thought lately. 'Called your name three times before that." He mused, "Is something up?"

I scoffed, "Pshh, nah. I'm good. Did you want something?"

He shrugged, "Nothing in particular. Just thought I'd ask you about our 'guest' now, since we may be housing him for a while. You always play that game I gave you that starred him...Splatoon?"

I was ecstatic. It wasn't often Terrell asked about the video games I played, since he had no interest in them before. While the situation called for him to question about the game and he never would've asked otherwise, I still sorta appreciated it.

"Yeah! He can shapeshift from kid to squid and loves to do these online battles called Turf Wars-"

My brother laughed and shook his head, "I meant more specific facts about his species so we can get him what he needs to be healthy and all that, you can tell me about the game later. From what I know, they're active and squids are their ancestors. Is there anything else?"

I clicked my tongue, trying to think of anything, "I dunno, to be honest. The game doesn't talk much about how inklings work, just that they like fashion and being cool."

"That's it?"

"Oh, I remember it being implied in the game that inklings may be a little more intelligent than us since they got such big heads. They may have a prime diet of fish since they _are_ squid kids and they also seem to like being active but can be very lazy at the same time too. Just like teenagers except a little...better?"

Terrell leaned back into the couch and sighed, "Okay, remind me to pick up some fresh fish from the store. And maybe we can try other seafood, but I'd have to ask people which store is the best to buy from."

I looked back at Tenta, who was filled with bountiful amounts of energy before but now seemed to be on the verge of passing out again. He would move around the mouse toy and let Salt pounce after it for one moment, then he'd start dozing off and would drop the toy from his hand. Then Salt would meow to keep him awake and the cycle kept repeating over and over.

The sight got so stupid and sad that I eventually just took the toy from Tenta and threw it a large distance away from the couch to keep Salt entertained for a little bit. Tenta groaned for a moment and glared at me in irritation, folding his arms and slouching in a pout. I squished his cheeks in response to let him know that his opinion was overruled in this decision and frankly, I didn't care and thought he was a tool.

I turned my attention back to Terrell, "We should get him some new clothes too, though I'm not sure how he's gonna fit his bigass head in the collars of his shirt."

My brother tapped his chin, "I could try and get him some button up shirts but nothing much more than that, really. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it and worry about the present right now."

"Yeah, like how we're gonna get him to take a bath. Tenta fucking _reeks._ "

Terrell frowned, "Why would it be a struggle to get him to take a bath? Every being needs to get clean in some way."

I shrugged, "I dunno, inklings are hydrophobic for some reason. Their bodies seem to immediately dissolve in water and they can't survive in it."

Silence.

"Squids who dissolve in water?"

"Yeah."

"Squids. Squids that dissolve in water."

"Uh-huh."

"I know, I thought it was dumb too when I first heard of it." Alyssa pipped in. "You ain't the only one."

I rolled my eyes, "Am I really the only one who finds it funny from how ironic it is?"

"Yeah." My sister deadpanned, folding her arms across her chest in that sassy way she always did. "Yeah, you are."

"Wow."

I felt something touch my feet and looked down to see Salt sitting there with the mouse toy in her mouth, silently asking me to play with her. I guess she knew Tenta wasn't gonna be a good playmate with how half-dead he seemed to be.

Speak of the devil...I looked over to Tenta and saw him laying down and turned to the inside of the couch. He was curled up ever so slightly and his breaths were slow and quiet. I'm either giving the description of someone who's dying, or someone who fell asleep. This story would be a lot more interesting if it was the former.

Hopefully Tenta's sleeping habits would ease up and he'll be able to stay awake for the whole day soon, but he definitely still needed the rest despite being knocked out for around a week or so. His wounds were almost all the way healed up and Alyssa said a little while ago that she'd take off the bandages a day after tomorrow, so that's also a good plus. I was filled with a bit of dread, wondering what the scars would look like and if they would fade away over time. I didn't see much of his wounds before Alyssa bandaged them up, but based on the glimpse I saw before I passed out, he'd have those scars for a _long_ time.

In the midst of my thoughts, I didn't notice Salt prepping to hop onto my lap until the feline was already there, claws digging into my jeans as she balanced herself. Then, with her little white tail swirling around, she quietly jumped off my lap and moved across the couch to where Tenta slept. She mewed gently as she approached the sleeping inkling, shuffling around and eventually resting in an oddly tight spot between Tenta and the couch. Then again, cats are all about tight spaces.

Alyssa held up her phone, "I'm getting a pic of this. I gotta treasure this moment."

An uneasy feeling washed over me, "Are you sure about that? What if something happens and that picture gets out somewhere?"

She shrugged, "People will just say it's photoshop or somethin'. It's not like a living, breathing inkling who came from who knows where is gonna be world famous with a single picture when there's thousands of media that's been altered to look real. If anything, people would probably ask me the 'drawing process' or whatever behind this pic."

Terrell and I stared blankly at her.

She did the same to us.

…

"You go on the internet too much." I stated. There's nobody out there who would have that thought process unless they were street smart online.

Alyssa gawked, "As if you're any better! You stay cooped up in your room all the time unless either you're hungry or you gotta take a shit!"

I rolled my eyes, "Probably because I can't take your dumbass attitude and overbearing voice, lil' sis."

My sister scoffed and looked ready to retort, but Terrell saved the day by cupping a hand over her mouth and holding his index finger over his lips. Right, Tenta passed the fuck out.

Alyssa huffed and stood from the couch, heading into the kitchen to do...whatever it is teenage girls did in kitchens. Drink milk straight from the carton? Well, she does that but I'm sure that's not really much of a teenage girl stereotype.

"I know you and Alyssa love to bicker, but please remember that our 'guest' is still recovering and all that." My brother sighed.

"...His name is Te-"

" _Yes, William. I am aware of that fact."_ He hissed between his teeth, which made me shrink back. Damn, I was only trying to mess with him a bit. I didn't think he'd get pissed so fast with us, but then again he always tends to become a bit of an ass himself whenever Alyssa and I bicker and fight over something.

I slouched in my seat, suddenly feeling bored and a little negative. I looked back at Tenta, who was now laying on his back with Salt curled up on his chest. His head lolled to the side and I could see a thin line of drool escaping his mouth, which really added some 'grace' points to him. Didn't help that he was starting to snore a bit either, but it was forgivable since they were very light. I just hoped they weren't gonna get louder in time.

After a bit of staring, I felt a happy, fluttering feeling in my stomach. An inkling. A living, breathing inkling in my house. He came in out of the TV, spat on my sister, and he's gonna stay with us.

That's pretty cool.


	5. the freshest squiddo in town!

"Squid!" Plop.

I cackled, the sound of Tenta turning into a squid in real life was strangely hilarious to me. In his squid form he glared at me, angrily squeaking and probably assuming I was making fun of him. In response I laughed even harder.

We had spent the next couple of days my room going over some English words, and I had managed to teach him some commands as well. It may seem weird to teach an inkling -who was practically a human- commands, but how else would I be able to teach him English? It's not like we had an English to Inkese textbook available to purchase on amazon. So far he had learned a handful of words like "Eat" and "Good", as well as our names. He struggled with pronouncing a few of them at first, but eventually he got the hang of them, although he never managed to say my name correctly, settling for "Willy" for short, though he pronounced it "Will-ee" instead. He's probably doing it on purpose at this point, since he's a little bastard.

After a couple of pokes from yours truly, he morphed back, nipping my finger with his teeth in agitation. I yelped, pulling back my poor injured appendage and sucking the blood from it before pointing at Tenta with my uninjured finger on my other hand and saying one word, "Bad."

Asshole childishly stuck his tongue out at me, silently gloating. I decided that his sides needed a fast and frantic finger dance on them to teach him a lesson. He screeched, falling down onto the floor and cackling as my fingers tickled his small yet athletic body. He kicked his legs and tried to shove me away, but I kept coming after him, his laughter only getting harder and louder. I eventually let up on him when I saw his fight begin to weaken, and soon the only sound in the room was his wheezing of recovery.

Terrell opened the door to my room, sticking his head inside and jiggling the car keys, "C'mon, let's go to the clothes store. I'm sure I'm not the only one that's noticed that Tenta's been stinking up the place with his clothes. We gotta get him some replacements."

I turned my head back at Tenta, whose eyes were closed but he was still very much awake, probably just resting. I noticed him messing with his shirt with a hand, obviously uncomfortable in it.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's noticed too. Been snappy lately," I looked down towards my injured finger, "Do you want us to wash him while you're out? I mean, I'm not sure how we'll do that given his species are hydrophobic, but 'Lyss and I can work out something."

Terrell shook his head, "Nah, we're taking him with us. You've told me before how inklings are all about being 'fresh', so we might as well let him pick out clothes that he wants. You can make a bath for him when we get back home."

"Gotcha. Tenta, let's go," I tapped the resting inkling, who was still wheezing slightly. He opened his eyes up into a glare, before groaning and slowly standing up and stretching. I started walking out my bedroom door, and he followed close behind, a disgruntled look on his face.

Reaching the front door of the house, I turned to my older brother.

"Well, we can't just walk out there with an inkling behind us, if he's coming with us how're we supposed to hide him?"

Before Terrell had a chance to respond, Tenta gurgled something in his language and morphed into a little pink squid, slithering over to my school bag, which I hadn't moved since day one. He sat beside it for a second, before looking at me with an expectant glint in his lime eyes. I rolled my eyes, snatching up the bag and dumping out the contents on the couch, setting it back on the ground and letting Tenta slip his way inside.

Picking up the bag, I zipped it up but left a small opening for Tenta to see out of if he chose to. I lifted the bag to my face, whispering a terrible threat to the inkling, _"If you stink up the bag your bath is going to be full of humiliating rubber ducks and bubbles_."

He chirped unknowingly in response. Perfect.

Slinging the bag over my shoulder, I walked out the door with Terrell in front, spotting the black van in the driveway. Alyssa suddenly zoomed past me as I was making my way towards the front passenger seat of the car, opening the door to it and rushing inside. I didn't even get a chance to exhale before the car door shut with a slam. I could see her in the car looking directly at me, cackling. Pissed, I turned to Terrell and hoped he'd say something, but he just shrugged.

"She got in the seat first."

Growling under my breath, I stomped my way over to the back seat door of the car, tossing the bag in and hopping in before slamming the door shut. It took me a moment to remember that Tenta was inside the bag I just crudely tossed, so I zipped it open and peeked inside to check if he was okay.

I was met with an angry squirt of ink to the face.

I spat and sputtered for a moment, wiping the pink ink off my face and my glasses as I watched Tenta hop out of the bag and onto the seat. He morphed back into kid form and huffed, putting on his seatbelt before crossing his arms and looking away angrily. Alyssa was still laughing from the passenger seat, arms wrapped around her sides as her cackles shook her body.

"I probably deserved that," I admitted bitterly, wiping the remaining ink off my forehead and flicking it off onto the floor. Tenta didn't respond.

Terrell then hopped into the car in the driver seat, inserting the key into the ignition and turning on the car. He backed out of the driveway and made his way onto the road, and then we were off to the clothes store.

The ride there wasn't very eventful at first. We lived in a town in a rural area, but in a neighborhood that had some really nice houses. Inklings in the game lived in Inkopolis, which is a big city setting, so this location was much different than what Tenta was used to. He was looking out the window in awe, the inkling taking in a whole new setting. I could hear him gurgling quietly to himself as he gazed outside, his lime eyes following the passing street lights. I smiled lightly, finding the whole sight to be adorable as hell.

In the midst of me watching Tenta, Terrell reached an arm over to the radio and turned up the volume and played our favorite station, one that plays R&B. It was a family favorite, all of us liking the same songs that would play on the station, and sometimes we'd sing along on good days. We weren't feeling that spirit, but I could notice Alyssa tapping her finger to the beat and humming as she scrolled down her social media as well as Terrell lightly nodding his head.

I turned my gaze back to Tenta and saw him gently swinging his head from side to side, a relaxed smile on his face and his eyes closed. His tentacles were bouncing around in his ponytail; I constantly have to restrain myself from messing with them when I see them bobbing. I couldn't help but grin at the sight of Tenta enjoying the music so deeply, as though he were completely immersed into the song like his ink. It was adorable, everything in his appearance was adorable, his actions only emphasizing his cuteness. Eventually the song ended and he stopped, continuing to look out the window of the car and gaze at the flat lands we called home. I was disappointed, slightly, and went back to looking at my phone.

After a while we made it to the clothing store when the sun was long gone. I instructed Tenta to hop back into the bag in squid form, the inkling doing so with a grumpy squeak. "Snappy, are you?" I muttered under my breath, zipping the bag up but leaving a hole he could see out of. I slung the bag around my shoulder and headed inside with my two family members and squid.

We had spent some time in the store, going to different sections and checking out all the clothes. I would hold up the bag that held Tenta in my hands as we walked around, and whenever we heard excited squeaking we could tell he caught his eye on something. He squeaked a lot. _A lot_. We ended up getting a rather big array of clothing, going from flashy t-shirts to monochrome pants, an inkling with no simple fashion sense he was. Half the shirts we got for him had text on them, we hadn't even taught him to read yet and he was insistent on it.

The clothes store was closing soon and we've already gotten enough weird looks with all the squeals and squeaking coming from my bag, so we eventually headed out of the store, bags full of clothes for all four of us but mostly Tenta. I could feel the school bag in my arms aggressively wiggle around, Tenta eager to get out and look at all his clothes we just got him. It's a wonder how Terrell manages to make so much money at one job to be able to afford this and so much more.

When we got home we set the bags on the floor of the living room, all of us giving collective sighs. I went to unzip my school bag, and as soon as I did so Tenta came springing out of the bag, excited to see all of his clothes that we got for him. He launched himself towards the shopping bag that carried most of his clothes, taking out each of the random garments and looking over them with eager eyes, not sure what he wanted to try on first. Terrell chuckled, walking over and yanking the clothes out of Tenta's hands, the squid boy producing a small whine.

"You'll be able to choose what you want to wear tomorrow, but first you need to shower and put on some pajamas. It's almost eleven, little man." He stated, picking out some yellow button-up pajamas in the bag and handing them to a grumbling Tenta. The inkling took the clothes and trudged his way up the stairs to the bathroom, Salt following him and mewling quietly. We amusedly watched him until he left our sights, so then we began putting away the clothes to our separate rooms and drawers.

I was messing with google translate on my laptop in my room, typing in random gibberish and laughing when I heard the pronunciations, when I heard a distant screech, no doubt from Tenta in the bathroom. I glanced up towards my bedroom door, before sighing and backspacing to rid the translator of my current word, "booshieploosh", in case Alyssa came in while I was gone to snoop on there. She was the blackmail _queen._

I was walking to the bathroom when I heard Tenta screech again, sounding startled. Rolling my eyes, I made it to the bathroom door and knocked, calling out to the inkling inside and asking him if he needed help. There was a slight pause before Tenta opened the door, covered in nothing but a towel around his waist. With the bandages all over his body now removed by Alyssa, I could get a clear view of the scarring. Unfortunately he didn't give me much time to really examine them, as he glanced up at me for a moment before taking one of my hands and yanking me inside the bathroom.

I yelped as he tugged me inside, the force behind his pull surprisingly weaker than I expected but it still startled me. "You could've just said I could come in, y'know," I sarcastically muttered, Tenta paying no mind to my attitude. "And your hand is wet! Could've dried it off first…"

He ignored my muttering and instead pointed at the water coming from the shower head, "That?"

I glanced at him for a moment, before looking back at the shower, "You mean the water?"

"Wa-wat-ah?" He stuttered, confusion spreading across his face. He reached forward and held his hand out in front of the water raining down from the shower head, yelping when the liquid splashed against his skin.

"Tenta no watah!" He exclaimed with disgust as he shook his hand to flick the water off, "Watah bad! No! No!"

"Why'd you stick your hand in the water if you knew you didn't like it?! Even then, why don't you like the water?" I questioned him, taking my hands and cuping them then collecting water from the shower. Once I had a decent amount, I pulled back my hands and showed Tenta the water in them.

"Water's good. See? It's fine." I tried to reassure him. He wasn't having it though, shaking his head and huffing through his nose. Stubborn bastard.

"C-Clea...clean no watah?" He asked, reaching to turn the shower off.

I gave him an odd look as I dumped the water back in the tub, "How the hell are you gonna get yourself clean with no water?"

He hesitated and shrunk back, "...I dunno. Tenta have no watah at bath...ink. Ink bath."

Ink bath? "Ink bath?"

He nodded, "Ink bath! Clean at ink, good ink, no...it- uh…" He scrunched up his face, frustrated from his lack of English vocabulary. "Bath...clean Tenta. Ink bath clean. No know more word. C-Com...comp...compli-complica…"

"Complicated?" I finished for him, surprised that he managed to figure out the meaning of that long ass word in just a couple of days.

"That! Yes! Hard...say that Tenta think. Teach Tenta English more, please!"

I pointed to the tub, "You gotta get clean first."

"No!"

"Tenta!" I exclaimed in exasperation, "You gotta get clean!"

"Soap, no water! No, no, no!"

" _Tentaaaaa."_ I whined, trying to pull the inkling into the tub with one of his arms. I had to get him clean sooner or later and I was leaning toward the 'sooner' side as I grew more and more impatient.

" _No!_ " He shrieked as he scrambled to resist my pull. "Tenta like no watah! Will-ee, stop! No!"

"It's just water! I'm pretty sure you won't die if you take a shower in it! How do you even get clean with an 'ink bath'? We don't have those here, you gotta use water!"

"No! Uh... _Fuck you!_ " Tenta screeched moments before leaning forward and chomping down on my hand, his sharp fangs digging into my flesh with little issue.

I yelped in pain and struggled to get Tenta to let go, trying to pry his jaw open with my other hand. After a few moments, the inkling opened his jaw and stepped back, wiping away the blood dripping from his mouth with the back of his hand as he glared up at me.

"You little _bastard!_ " I shrieked in disbelief, watching the wound on my hand grow more and more red with more blood seeping out of it than I had ever seen before in my life. What the _fuck_ is up with that inkling?

Suddenly, we both heard knocking from the door.

"Will? Tenta? Are you okay? I heard yelling, is something up?" Terrell asked in heavy concern as he knocked. "Are you hurt or anything?"

"Ah…" I started as I struggled to think up an excuse, "Um, we're just fine! I accidentally scraped my hand against the corner of the sink and I'm bleeding a bit but I'm good! Just gotta bandage it up!"

"Do you need any help with the bandages?"

I looked down at Tenta, who was staring up at me with a sly smirk. I cupped my uninjured hand over his mouth and shoved him into the shower, holding him down despite his intense squirming.

"No, I'm good! We're just fine! Thanks!"

"How's Tenta, is he okay?"

Tenta did his best to yell from behind my hand, but it fell on deaf ears and I fortunately wasn't going to get in trouble. He desperately tried to pry my hand off of his mouth, his fingers digging into my skin as he struggled. He was definitely making this a lot harder than it needed to be.

"Oh...Uh, yeah, he's fine! Just helping him work the shower and showing him where the first aid is!"

There was a pause.

"Oh, alright! Call me if you need anything." Terrell eventually stated, prompting a sigh of relief from me as I continued to hold a still very much struggling Tenta down inside the bathtub.

I waited for a moment to make sure my brother had gone away, then released my hold on Tenta. He gasped for air and launched himself out of the tub, landing on the bathmat and glaring up at me with the biggest death glare I've ever seen on an inkling.

He stood there, covered in rapidly cooling water and was starting to shiver, but refused to move. He was definitely pissed, his hands were holding the towel around his waist in a deathgrip and his ears were twitching ever so slightly.

I put on a sly, mocking grin, "See? You're not dead. You're clean now!"

Tenta didn't respond, averting his gaze to the floor. Water slowly traveled down his body and pooled into the bathmat, yet he wasn't moving.

I sighed, guilt starting to creep up in my stomach, "Look, you had to get clean one way or another, and water's the only way to do it here."

" _Fuck you._ " He spat in a harsh tone. Despite only knowing one phrase involving an English curse word, he knew how to use it really well and it didn't help at all to fight back the guilt.

I threw my hands in the air in exasperation, "Okay! Fine. I'm sorry. Whatever. We probably could've found another way to get you clean but I made a rash decision and did something stupid. 'M sorry."

Even though he only recognized the word 'sorry', Tenta still smiled and gave me a thumbs up to let me know he accepted it. He didn't seem too happy about being wet, but it looked like he was ready to put it past him and just move on. I was grateful for that, to be honest.

Eventually, I wrapped bandages around my bitten hand and stepped out the bathroom to give Tenta some time and privacy to dry off and get his clothes on. To get myself together after that bit of a mess, I slapped my hands onto my face and dragged them down slowly as I walked to my room.

In the middle of my stride, I felt a hand grab my shoulder and force me to turn around. I was blessed with the horrid sight of my sister.. She had her glasses on, but her hair was let loose instead of a bun and she was dressed in a yellow nightgown.

"The fuck happened to your hand?" She asked, grabbing my injured hand without giving me much warning and examining it. "The bandaging on this is awful but not the most ineffective, did you do this?"

"Yeah, I did." I muttered, "What do you want? I'm going to bed."

Alyssa crossed her arms over her chest, "I don't want anything. Terrell just told me to tell you that Tenta's bunking in your room tonight."

I did a double-take, "I'm sorry, _what?_ "

She waved her hand around in a discarding manner, "Somethin' about washing the sheets since he stunk them up pretty bad. You'll live."

I performed an exaggerating groan and slouch to show how truly upset I was at this misfortune, "Why can't he sleep in your rooooom?"

"My room's cluttered enough as it is." She snapped, "Plus, Pepper likes to wander in there during the night and I don't think Tenta would take that too well."

"Well then, why not Terre-"

"Will, you're the asshole the inkling's hung out with for the most and seems to trust. You can handle one night of the inkling snoozing in your nasty, boy room." Alyssa huffed as she turned on her heel and made her trek back to her room around the corner.

After a pause, she stepped back out into the hallway. "Plus, would _you_ wanna sleep in the room of the biggest, roughest looking family member in the house?"

I gave it some thought, "Well, if there was a burglary I could use the biggest and strongest person t-"

"Nevermind." My sister rolled her eyes, "But, yeah, don't do anything stupid. You don't have many friends, but the ones you do have, you made quick. Knowing you, you and that inkling would probably destroy this place once you became buds or whatever."

"Probably not considering he decided to sink his teeth into my goddamn hand…" I muttered under my breath.

"He bit you?"

I stared at Alyssa.

She stared at me.

I stared at Alyssa.

She stared at me.

…

"Nah."

"Will. you _just said-_ "

"No, I didn't."

"Did he really bite you? Is that what the bandages are for?"

"What bandages?"

"Will, I am _this close_ to walking back over to you and smacking the shit out of you."

"What did I do?"

" _Will."_

I barked out a laugh as my sister grew more frustrated with my bullshit. She growled and folded her arms, irritation setting in as she tapped her foot against the carpet.

She turned back toward her room and let out a sharp sigh. "Fine! Be like that. I'll be in my room where you won't be gaslighting me. 'Guess that's what I get for being concerned."

"G'night!"

She didn't say g'night back.

I ran my hand through my hair as I walked back to my room. First my finger, and now my goddamn entire hand, that inkling really needs to calm his teeth. Or fangs. Beak? Squids have beaks. He really needs to calm his beak.

As soon as I stepped into the room, I felt something rush past me and watched as the now clothed Tenta sped toward the bed and belly-flopped onto it with a loud whoop of joy. He bounced once, then twice, and then he lay flat on the mattress with his face shoved into the sheets.

After a pause, he looked up at me and flashed a quick grin, chirping something in a happy tone. His yellow button-up pajamas seemed to fit him a little loosely, but he didn't look like he minded it much. In fact, he seemed to love it, the fabric _did_ look pretty soft and smooth.

As he wrapped my blankets around himself, I grabbed my toothbrush and then went over to chose my pajamas for the night. He stared curiously as I sifted through the different shirts I could potentially wear to bed, until I eventually chose a washed out, yellow shirt and dark green sweatpants.

Tenta proceeded to make the most loudest, disgusting, exaggerated gagging sound I had ever heard in my entire _life._ In the moment, I thought he was dying. Literally.

I glanced over to him after my initial panic faded away and realized that his eyes were on my pajamas. I looked down at them and checked to see if there was some sort of bug on them that had crawled in my drawer and died or something, but I didn't see any cockroach legs or exoskeleton. Shrugging, I made my way to the door and left Tenta to deal with whatever crisis is going on with him.

" _No! No, no no no no no no no no!"_ I heard him nearly shriek, and whipped back around to see him clambering out of the blankets and off of the mattress. He had a panicked look on his face as he sprinted to me and yanked the clothes out of my hands with a firm tug.

"Hey!" I yelled, trying to make a grab to steal my pajamas back. He wasn't having it, though, and promptly threw the clothes into the trash can by the door. Y'know, the trash can that is full of discarded plastic bottles of half drunk soda that's spilt everywhere in there. That one.

I stared in disbelief at the trash can for a couple of seconds, then glared at Tenta, who wasn't even paying attention. Instead, the fucker had reopened the drawers and was urgently looking for something in them, taking out random shirts and discarding them by throwing them to the floor.

"What are you even doing?" I asked desperately with my hands clenching the sides of my head, trying to understand what the hell was taking place here.

Eventually, Tenta backed away from the drawers with two pieces of clothing: a dark grey tanktop and black sweatpants. He seemed pleased with the clothes in his arms, a large smile on his face as he looked down at them in his hands. Then, he stared up at me and promptly shoved them into my chest.

"Wghh!" I choked in surprise as the clothes were thrusted into my arms, adjusting my stance to deal with the shove. "What's this for? Why do you want me to wear these? And why the hell did you throw away my other clothes?!"

Tenta shrugged, "Ugly."

I took in a deep breath, opened my mouth to begin to say something I thought that made sense but really didn't, and then closed my mouth because I had just remembered trying to reason with an asshole who wasn't multilingual would make me look even dumber.

I sighed in defeat, "Fine. Sure, I'll wear these clothes if it makes you happy." There goes one of my favorite sets of pajamas in the trash.

As I left the room, I heard Tenta let out a large whoop of joy and then what presumably seemed to be him belly-flopping right back onto the bed. Still feeling a little disgruntled, I shook my head and huffed through my nose as I stepped into the bathroom to do my business.

Once I was done, I stepped out of the bathroom and walked back to my room, noticing that all the lights in the house were off except mine. That was Terrell's code for 'please stay in your rooms or I'll think you're a burglar because it's dark and I'm tired'. I yawned as I approached the doorway, ready to get some shuteye in.

Stepping into the room, I saw Tenta sitting on my bed and also Salt there with him. The inkling was laying on his stomach, hands reaching out in front of him and gently scratching the top of the kitten's head. He cooed at her in his language, murmuring quietly as he moved from scratching her behind the ears to underneath her chin. She was meowing in delight through it all, her blue eyes closed in bliss as her white tail gently swirled and curled around.

I stood and watched for a little bit, choosing to let Tenta have his fun with the kitten for a little bit. They kept on for a short time more, until Tenta began to doze off in the midst of petting Salt and his head started slumping to the side. Salt recognized that he was falling asleep and meowed one last time before hopping off the bed and zooming out of the room, most likely to join Pepper in wandering around the house late at night and passing out who knows where.

Turning my gaze back to Tenta, I could tell that he was almost totally gone, the only thing letting me know he was awake was him still murmuring something in his language, but the speech was slurred and occasionally stopped once in a while. It would pick up again eventually, but much quieter and slower than before as the fight to resist sleep eventually died off.

Gently closing the bedroom door, I shut off the lights and put my glasses on top of my dresser as I prepped myself for bed. I walked up to my bed and slowly pulled the blankets over Tenta's back and over his shoulders to protect him from the nightly cold. I flinched when his ear twitched, but after a second of holding my breath and keeping still, I managed not to accidentally wake him up and exhaled a silent sigh of relief.

I looked around the room for a second blanket, planning to sleep on the carpet floor since Tenta had taken ownership of the bed. I was going to give it to him anyway, since it always felt wrong to me to take up the bed while the guest took the floor. I wasn't able to find a blanket, so I just groaned and laid down next to the bed with nothing to cover me. It wasn't terrible, it wasn't overly chilly and I didn't mind the carpet. It was soft. Dirty and gross since I always forgot to clean it, but soft.

Shifting into a comfortable position, I closed my eyes and slowly embraced the dream world.

* * *

"GAK!" I yelped as someone stepped onto my chest. That certain someone yelped and tripped, flopping to the floor with a loud thump. Rubbing the sore area on my chest with my hand, I sat up and did my best to rub my eyes away of their sleepiness.

"...Tennnt?" I mumbled, focusing my eyes on the dark shape just inches away from me sprawled out on the floor. Tenta groaned and slowly propped himself up on his arms, pushing himself to his feet and turning around to meet my gaze.

He blinked in surprise, "Will-ee?"

"Thas' me." I sighed, "Why are you awake?"

"Um…" He glanced off to the side with a sheepish smile, "B-bath...rooooom?"

I groaned, "You could've done that without tripping over me. Don't you inklings have night vision or something?"

Tenta tilted his head, "Eh? V-visson?"

I shook my head and waved my hand toward the door, "Go, do your business and be quick about it."

The inkling nodded and without further hesitation, rushed out into the hallway and into the bathroom. With the slam of the door and the click of the lock, I immediately collapsed back down onto the carpet and slowly exhaled, bringing my hands to my face and dragging them down in slight exasperation. I was still so goddamn _tired_ and getting my sleep interrupted was the best way to get me irritated.

Tenta soon came back to the doorway and still looked pretty tired too. He was rubbing his eyes and yawning, but quickly tried to perk himself up once he noticed me staring at him.

"Goodnigh..." He said quietly as he turned back into the hallway, missing the t at the end of the sentence. He was leaving. Where was he going?

"Where are you going?" I asked him in the midst of his departure. He turned around and gave me an odd look, tilting his head to the side yet again.

"Where?...Uh…" He made a funny face as he thought up his response, puffing his cheeks and furrowing his brow, "Tenta...sleep at Tenta bed."

I shook my head, remembering that I never gave him the memo, "You're sleeping in my bed tonight. Your sheets are getting washed."

He made a confused noise, "Tenta sleep at Will-ee bed?"

"Yeah."

Tenta murmured something to himself, "...Will-ee sleep at Will-ee bed. Tenta sleep at...in floor."

"Nooo." I chided him while shaking my head, "You sleep on the bed. I'll sleep on the floor. You-" I pointed at the bed, "-will sleep up there. I-" I pointed at the carpet, "-will sleep down here. Got it?"

"No!"

I groaned, "Tentaaaa."

"Tenta sleep in floor!" He stated with a determined tone, staring at me in the eye with a firm glare.

I pointed at the bed, _"Please_ get up there and go back to sleep."

He decided to be a copycat and pointed at the bed himself, "Will-ee sleep!"

" _Tenta."_

With one cheerful "fuck you!" Tenta plopped down right onto the floor next to me, let out an extremely FAKE yawn, and pretended to be asleep. He even gave a couple fake snores to really look the part.

"Tenta, _please_ get on my bed." I pleaded, to which the fucker responded with an extremely loud, obnoxious snore. Alright, we're doing this the hard way.

Standing up, I briskly bent down and picked up Tenta bridal style in one swoop. He yelped in shock, and I didn't give him enough time to fight back before I threw him face-first onto the bed. Once the inkling got a pleasant face-full of blankets, he stood up and turned around, looking pissed.

My response was to grab him by the face, hold him down despite his struggling, and frantically wrap the blankets around his body. That doesn't sound right. I'm doing this out of pure generosity, I swear.

When I finished, I stepped back to admire my handiwork. Tenta was wrapped up haphazardly in a cocoon made of a single blanket, the only part of his body showing being head. One of his ears was pinned underneath the blanket while the other was out, giving him a funny and uneven look. Tenta himself was pouting, his cute, pink cheeks puffed out and everything. He looked adorable, and to have bested him like this was one of the greatest feelings ever.

I flashed him a cocky grin, "Goodnight, Tenta!"

" _Noooooo."_ He whined with a defeated tone hinted in his voice, struggling against the cocoon wrapped around him but to no avail.

I could hear him huff and strain to break himself free from the cocoon as I laid back down on the carpet, but I knew he wasn't getting out anytime soon.

Knowing that I won in this argument, I fell asleep with a smile on my face.


	6. WATER GUNS

Feeling gentle hands shake me awake, I sleepily blinked open my eyes, realizing the light in my room was on. The culprit who was waking me up was blurry thanks to my bad sight, but I could tell it was my sister. I yawned, about to sit up, but I felt her push on my chest, keeping me down.

"Alyssa, what the hell-"

" _Shhh._ Tenta's next to you and still sleeping." She looked over to my left, and sure enough, Tenta was sleeping soundly right next to me. His chest slowly rose up and down with each breath he took in and exhaled, the little fucker must've made his way out of bed when he was sure I was asleep. I gaped at the sight for a moment, before shaking my head slowly and looking back up at Alyssa.

" _What the hell do you want, 'Lyss?_ " I whispered, rubbing my eyes to rid them of their sleepiness.

She looked back at Tenta, before looking at me in the eye, "Let's go in the pool today."

I threw my head back and groaned, "'Lyss, you know I'm not that much of a swimming person."

She laughed, "I know I know, but I invited Cassidy and Miles to come and hang out with us in the pool for a while."

" _What?!_ " I hissed, before covering my mouth with a hand and looking down at Tenta to see if he woke up. He stirred slightly and rolled over on his stomach, but other than that he was still sleeping like a baby.

Alyssa punched me in the arm because of my fuck up, before reassuring me, "Chill, you know those two so well, you shouldn't even be nervous about Tenta being seen by them. They're our friends, best friends as a matter of fact, plus they know how to keep secrets. Cassidy may be a blabbermouth but she wouldn't _dare_ utter a secret unless given permission. Miles is quiet enough as it is, I'd doubt he'd say much. You told him so many secrets all the time I lost count."

I narrowed my eyes at her, "How did you know that I-"

"Plus...I already... maybe sorta kiiiiinda somehow toldthemaboutTentaalready?" She spoke the last part quickly and quietly, but I knew what she was going to say as soon as I heard the first word come out of her mouth.

Sighing roughly, I pinched the bridge of my nose, "You know what? Fine. I accept this. When are they coming over?"

"Right now, actually."

I stared up at her with a blank expression.

"...Get out of my room."

She left with a giggle, rushing out of my room and into the hallway. She stood to where I could fully see her in the doorway, and I could see that she was wearing blue goggles on her forehead and a yellow two-piece swimsuit. Or I assumed anyway, as she was a blurry mess since I wasn't wearing my glasses. "I'll see you in ten!"

Rolling my eyes, I fully sat up and started to stretch my arms after being asleep for so long. I glanced down at Tenta, giving a squid a gentle rub on his head (the part not scarring up, mind you), before standing up and grabbing my swim trunks from one of my dresser's drawers and glasses, heading into the bathroom to change. I normally would've done it in my room but with Tenta in there? _No_. No matter how heavy of a sleep he was in, I wasn't going to risk it.

Exiting the bathroom with my trunks on, I made my way down the stairs and towards the backyard to where the pool was at. I saw Terrell on my way out, the man standing in the kitchen and cooking up an omelet for himself to consume.

"Hey, Will! You didn't tell me Tenta was done showering last night, so I had to come up and take his clothes while you two were sleeping. I thought the both of you were going to share the bed, I didn't think you two would share the floor."

"Sorry, bro. I was going to tell you but Tenta distracted me with his assholeness. I tried to make him take the bed and I take the floor for the night, but he snuck out in the middle of the night and went to sleep right next to me."

Terrell hummed, "Sounds like he considers you a good friend already."

I rolled my eyes, "I doubt it. The little fucker was just trying to be one of those guests that reject your generosity."

My older brother shrugged as he poked at the omelet with his spatula, "Seems odd that he'd sleep right next to you if he was simply disregarding your generosity."

" _..._." I turned on my heel and walked away, choosing to opt out of the conversation and make my way out into the backyard. I heard Terrell laugh behind me, the sizzle of his omelet cooking clear in my ears.

Once outside, I looked up and found a couple lingering clouds. I checked the weather channel yesterday, so I knew a rather big storm was going to happen later on in the day today. It was still safe to go swimming for now, so I had no worries.

"William!" I heard from my left, and I turned to see Alyssa entering the backyard wooden gate with our two friends, Cassidy and Miles. They both waved at me, Cassidy's wave was hyperactive and eccentric while Miles' wave was small and calm. The three of them walked over to me, stepping over the grass with bare feet and meeting me on the pavement.

Cassidy was a sixteen year old caucasian girl with blond hair, her bright and blonde hair hugging itself around her head in little waves. Her face was decorated with freckles, and her green eyes sparkled with excitement and mischief. Miles was her slightly younger step-brother, fifteen years old, pale and blank but wise. His choco-brown hair was smooth and curled at the edges, and his eyes were chestnut unlike his sister's. They were both wearing their own swimsuits, Cassidy wore a blue one piece with frills at the bottom to form a little skirt, and Miles wore swim shorts that showed off sharks, a sea animal he was fond of.

"Sooo, where's the little squid dude? Alyssa's told me and Miles so much about him!" Cassidy asked, looking around for the annoying little shit.

I nodded my head towards the house, "He's in my room sleeping, he'll probably be up soon but I don't guarantee that. One time he went to bed at ten and woke up at noon."

Cassidy's eyes lit up, "Wow! Talk about a heavy sleeper! Oh yeah, speaking of heavy sleepers, I once found a post online about this one dude who liked to lift weights so much he started doing it in his sleep! He was a bodybuilder who had sleepwalked all his life until he-"

"Okaaaay let's go swimming!" I quickly interrupted her before she went further. She paused for a moment, before nodding eagerly and heading towards the pool. She halted in her stride, then turned back to me.

"Where's the pool toys at, again?"

I pointed towards a small structure at the far corner of our backyard, "Over there in that small shack. We don't use the toys all that much unless our little cousins come over for a visit, or unless we just want to lay down in the sun on those big floaties."

"Cool! I'll go grab some floaties and noodles, and maybe some water guns too. We all could have a full on brawl!"

Alyssa clapped her hands and whooped, before tugging her goggles over her eyes and jumping into the pool without a care. A large splash of water washed over Miles and I, although I was the only one who was ticked off. 'Lyss soon resurfaced, shaking her head slightly and looking back over at us.

"Come in! The water's great today!"

There was no need to tell Miles twice, for he jumped in soon after. I was about to myself, but when I got a good look at the water, I froze. The swirling waves caught me off guard, and for some strange reason I felt almost intimidated by them. I quickly shook the feeling off and jumped in right after Miles, mentally dismissing the feeling as I felt the water take me in.

I resurfaced just in time to see Cassidy toss in the floaties and noodles. One of them almost landed on my head, but instead it barely nicked me on the side of my ear, and it plopped onto the water and began floating to the ripples we made. Cassidy laid the water guns she collected on the pavement beside the pool, before jumping into the body of water as well, her long blond hair blowing in the temporary wind as she descended.

Her large splash washed over all of us, making the three of us spit and sputter for a moment. We all then started splashing Cassidy in the face, who in turn thrusted her arms to wash big splashes upon all of us.

Our antics kept up like this for a while, until we all grew tired and started chilling in the pool. Alyssa, Cassidy and I were all resting on big floaties, while Miles was absent-mindedly going around the pool in a ring floatie. Cassidy suddenly sat up from laying in the sun.

"Hey! Is that the inkling you've been talking about, 'Lyssy?" She asked, adding Alyssa's nickname she called her at the end of her statement.

Sure enough, it was Tenta, the inkling silently walking into the backyard. I noticed that he was wearing yellow swim shorts as well, Terrell probably suggesting he should wear it. We all grew silent at his approach, and watched him as he looked down at all of us from the pavement.

Suddenly, Cassidy squealed, "Oh my gosh! He's even cuter than you said he was, 'Lyssy! I'm _soooo_ jealous that you get to have an inkling in your house!" She slid off the floatie and moved towards the edge of the pool, climbing up the side Tenta was at.

"Hey cutie! It's very nice to meet you after all this time! You're so adorable, I wanna squish your cheeks so bad!" She squeaked, wringing out the water in her blond hair.

Tenta stared up at her for a moment, before looking around her and towards me, "Who?"

I pointed towards the overeager girl, "Cassidy. Her name is Cassidy."

He looked back up at her and reached out a greeting hand, "Hi, Cass-ee-tee."

She took his hand and shook it slowly and gently, "Hello, Tenta, you're very cute."

He nodded slowly, stepping away from her and towards the edge of the pool. He sat down on the edge and closed his eyes, basking in the warm sunlight. Cassidy giggled at the sight, stepping around him and climbing down one of the ladders into the pool. She swam over to me, whispering a question into my ear:

"Can Tenta join us in the pool?"

I went to answer with a no, but she already swam a small distance away from me, opening her arms wide with a large smile on her face.

"Tenta! Jump into my arms! Please!"

He glanced up at her, shaking his head and closing his eyes once more, just wanting to appreciate the sunlight. Cassidy tried to give the command again, but was ignored.

I watched her failure with amusement, turning to her and saying, "Lemme try."

Alyssa raised a brow, "You do know that inklings can't swim, right? It's common knowledge."

I looked over at her with a challenging grin, "Well, since he took a shower last night, I can conclude that it's not that they _can't_ swim, it's that they _don't want_ to swim. Inklings are not just hydrophobic by body, but also by mind."

"Are you implying that inklings just can't swim due to their attitude on water?" She asked, her sassy tone returning slightly.

" _Exactly_." I confirmed, turning to Tenta.

"Tenta! C'mon, jump into my arms." I clapped my hands, opening my arms wide and looking at Tenta expectantly. The inkling opened his eyes and looked over at me, shaking his head no and frowning.

I said the command again, this time with different results. He glanced over at where I was positioned and at everyone else. He stood up, unsure if he wanted to go back inside or follow my command, hesitation clearly evident from his body language. Cassidy gasped, uttering the word _jealous_ under her breath, before growing quiet once more.

I said the command again and again, and slowly but surely Tenta made his way over to the literal edge of the pool, looking in with fearful eyes. I clapped my hands and opened my arms wide, knowing that he knew that I wouldn't kill him on purpose.

"I'll catch you, trust me on this."

Tenta looked down at the water, before looking right back at me. He bent down slowly and backed up a bit, before launching forward and landing in my arms, where I caught him successfully.

My sister and our two friends whooped and cheered at the action, and I looked at Tenta in my arms with a wide smile. He was grasping my arms uncomfortably tight, and shivering lightly, but he was okay. He looked up at me, and while I could see a lot of fear in his eyes, I also saw trust. I guess we _were_ a littlepast the acquaintance stage and had moved onto being trusting friends despite our language barrier.

I grinned at the inkling, happily whispering in his ear, "Good joooob."

He gave a small smile back, though it quickly went away when he saw Cassidy messing with the floaties. He pulled himself closer to me, the both of us knowing the only reason he was in this pool was me, myself, and I.

Cassidy found what she was looking for, a ring floatie. "Here it is! Now the little guy doesn't have to worry about drowning!" She pushed the floatie on the water over to me and I managed to grab it after a small amount of waiting.

I looked down at Tenta, "Okay, dude, you gotta let go."

"No."

"Tenta, you gotta let go."

"No."

"Tenta."

"No."

"Tenta!"

"No!"

Sighing, I knew I wouldn't be able to get him to let go of me. I grimaced, knowing he'll put up a fight at what I'll do next.

I slowly began prying his hands off my arms, and as soon as he noticed it, which was instantly, he started hissing and flailing and creating splashes everywhere. Cassidy and Alyssa winced while Miles just looked on with interest, until I managed to fully pry the inkling from my grip and put the floatie around his body.

Eventually Tenta managed to slowly calm down, though he still looked mega frightened and jittery, which I felt guilty about. His hands were tightly grasping the floatie, so tight I feared it might pop, but it managed to hold strong. He did his best to linger by my side, constantly reaching out a hand to grab my arm to hold. I reluctantly told him as simply as I could that I couldn't stay with him the whole time in the pool, to which he grumbled angrily to himself.

After a while he grew quiet, watching us all hang out in the pool and not uttering a sound. He was calm after being in the floatie for so long, realizing that the object was keeping him afloat as long as he was in it. He still looked heavily uncomfortable, however, occasionally glancing at the water with wariness in his eyes.

Cassidy spoke up after she saw Tenta's pitiful state, "Maybe we should let him get out? I thought that he'd be having fun at this point but he seems so scared of the water around him."

I sighed in disappointment, knowing that she was right, "Yeah, we should let him get out. Tenta, do you want to get out?"

To our surprise, he answered with a small "no."

"No?" Cassidy and I said in unison, looking at the inkling in surprise. He was quietly looking at the water, curiously swirling a finger in it. He looked up at us for a moment sighed, before turning his gaze back to the water and swirling two fingers in it this time.

Cassidy tilted her head, "Do you think he's getting used to it?"

I shrugged, "Maybe? It's possible he realized that water isn't deadly as long as he doesn't flip."

"Or maybe he accepted that he's stuck with you and is willing to accept death without hesitation." Alyssa called from her floatie with a grin.

I rolled my eyes, swimming over to the pool's ladder and climbing out. "Okay, I'm tired of being in the pool, let's have a water gun fight or something."

Cassidy clapped her hands, "Oh! I am _so_ in! Get ready to be annihilated! Miles, I know you're my sibling, but there's no friends and family in war. You're all going _down_."

Miles shrugged at her comment and smiled before heading towards the pool ladder and climbing out too. Soon, everyone was out except for Tenta, who was watching us and wondering what was going on.

We all picked up different water guns, Cassidy and Alyssa chose the tiny guns that shot quick and short shots, while Miles and I took guns that required pumping but could squirt far and long.

I looked over at Tenta, who was curiously staring at the pile of leftover water guns on the ground.

"Tenta, you wanna play too?" I asked him, holding up my water gun.

A large grin spread on the tan inkling's face and he slowly made his way over to the pool ladder, hinting that he wanted to join in. I walked up to the pool and reached over to gently push the floatie he was in over to the ladder to help him out, receiving a happy "thanks" in response.

Soon he was out of the pool, ditching the pool floatie and joining us on the grass. He looked down at the pile of guns, reaching down and picking up a water gun similar to Cassidy's and Alyssa's. He looked up at all of us and nodded, holding his gun as if it were his shooter in a turf war.

"Okay!" I announced to everyone, deciding to take charge, "This is a free for all. Everyone against everyone. The person who gets squirted the least in the next five minutes will get the leftover cookies in the fridge! Everyone ready?"

I got all nods.

"Let's go!"


	7. raw fish is bad for incoming thunder

The battle was on. All of us quickly backed away from each other, friendships didn't exist anymore. We were all out for blood, ready to destroy our loved ones for the winning prize.

Cassidy acted first, whipping up her gun and dashing over to Miles, nailing him straight in the face. He shook his head free of the water and then lunged after his sister, catching her in the back when she tried to run away. She yelped in surprise, then spotted Alyssa rushing towards her.

"'Lyssy! I thought we were friends!" She teased, running from my sister backwards, aiming her gun at the darker girl.

Alyssa cackled, " _There are no friends in war!_ " She jumped towards Cassidy and shot her in the face, not before receiving a shot to hers as well. They both paused and wiped their faces off, before quickly backing from each other with distrust.

In the midst of watching them, I felt a squirt on the back of my head, the feeling slightly dulled due to my frizzy hair. I whipped around and spotted Miles with his gun pointed at me, a sly grin present on his face. Smirking, I pointed my gun right back at him, only to lose that smirk when he dived out of the way just in time. It was a one on one battle, I consistently shot at Miles and he consistently dodged my shots. The battle ended when I needed to pump my gun, Miles knowing that he had won. He grinned a wicked smile, and shot me in the face.

I backed away dramatically, arm draped over my head as I fell onto the grass ground, "How could this be?! I thought we were friends, Miles. Pals. Chums. Buddies. And you come and turn against me like this? How _dare_ you, Mi-ACK!"

I was cut short when I was sprayed in the mouth by the little squid asshole. Tenta.

Agitated, I aggressively pumped my gun and held it up to Tenta. I lunged at him, eager to land a hit on the little asshole, but he easily dodged out of the way. I landed and looked around for him, and in the midst of my search I felt water spray into my ear and yelped. Spinning around, I saw Tenta laughing obnoxiously, gun pointed straight at me.

I kept attempting to land hits on the little dude, but time and time again he'd jump out of the way and attack me in return. I knew that this was all just a game, but over time I slowly started growing irritated that I couldn't land a hit on him, and soon I began targeting just him and him alone.

Tenta, however, was having the time of his life. Besides getting on my nerves, he would squirt Alyssa, Cassidy and Miles when they least expected it. The kid was nimble and agile, constantly attacking all of us over and over in quick succession due to his speed. They grew annoyed too, and quickly the battle went from a free for all to a four against one. Try as we might, we couldn't get the inkling. He would easily dodge one shot and the next, clearly we weren't a challenge to him.

I wheezed, my body had used up all the energy it had to attack the inkling, and now I had my hands on my knees and was hunched over. Then I fell to the ground below me. One by one I saw my friends collapse to the grass after me, except for Tenta, who was standing tall and above all of us with little to no fatigue. I don't recall him ever getting hit, actually. Fucker.

"Ladies and gentlemen," I wheezed, "We have a winner….Tenta."

Alyssa and Miles sighed in disappointment, while Cassidy whined and complained, "Okay, that wasn't fair! He's an inkling, he's used to battling when it comes to shooters!"

I put a hand on my face, wiping the sweat from my brow, "We never said that he couldn't play like a pro." _Though we should've..._

Cassidy sighed, "True…"

I slowly began to stand up, stretching my arms and making my way over to the pool, "I'm gonna cool off in the pool and then head inside," I then looked up at the thunderclouds hanging above, "Plus it's going to rain 'n thunder soon, so I don't think we should stay out here for much longer anyway."

Everyone looked up at the clouds and murmured their agreements, all of them joining me in the pool to cool off after the five minute battle. Except Tenta, who decided to just linger on the edge and dip his feet in.

We eventually cleaned up the pool toys and said our goodbyes to Cassidy and Miles, who left from the backyard gate, and headed inside. Terrell met up with us at the door, handing the three of us towels after he saw us coming inside from the sliding window.

"So, did you have fun?" He asked, ruffling my frizzy hair.

I nodded and looked back at Tenta, who had tightly wrapped the green towel he was given around himself, "Yeah, I had fun. Tenta had a blast and annihilated all of our asses. We had no chance for survival. He was too quick for us, we did our best and we hope you still think of us as your siblings."

Terrell chuckled, "Rest in peace, you two. Congrats on your win, Tenta," He congratulated, fondly patting the inkling on the back. He received a happy gurgling sound in reply, the inkling seeming proud.

Our older brother then looked at Alyssa and I, "You two should shower and wash your hair, both of your heads look like they're growing bushes."

Alyssa crossed her arms, "It's not like you looked any better when you had your hair long, Terrell."

Terrell shrugged his shoulders in amusement, "Heh, you're not wrong. Anyway, go clean up, all of you. I'll cook up some fish or something."

As soon as Tenta heard the word 'fish', his ears sprung up and he looked at Terrell straight in the eyes with hunger. His stomach growled shortly after, the three of us knowing now that the inkling was immensely hungry. Thinking about it now, I completely forgot to eat today, since I headed outside before I even thought of food entering my mouth.

Alyssa and I looked at each other and quickly dashed for the bathroom, the both of us competing for who gets to shower first. Tenta paid no mind to us and walked to the living room, picking up a relaxing Salt and holding her in his arms. She grew a tiny bit since he arrived, from being able to fit in his hand to being able to fit in his arms. Tenta didn't care what size she was, happily nuzzling the tiny kitten and stroking her soft, white fur as Alyssa and I shouted at each other while wrestling near the bathroom door.

After a while, the three of us were all freshened up. Tenta and I were in my room and on my bed, the inkling looking out the window as he ate the chocolate chip cookies he won and me on my laptop. He was nice enough to share a couple with me, though he still hogged the rest of them like a pig. I had taught him a couple of new words while we sat around, such as 'thunder' when the thunder rumbled and 'lightning' when Tenta saw the lightning strike something in the distance.

Tenta turned to me, crumbs decorating the border of his mouth. His pink tentacles were out of their usual ponytail, hanging by the sides of his head and swaying. He pointed to the window, which was now covered with little water droplets.

"Rain?"

I nodded, calmly listening to the rain patter against the roof of the house. Tenta looked back outside, watching the sky slowly darken as the clouds got thicker and the rain got harder. A flash of lightning startled him away from the window, and not far after a loud bang of thunder shook the house.

Tenta flinched at the noise and crawled along the bed over to where I was, peeking over my shoulder to spy on what I was doing.

"Mmm…"

I looked up from my laptop, "What? You need something?"

"Food? When food?"

I sighed, looking back at my laptop's screen and sending a meme to a friend of mine online, "Terrell's cooking fish, go down and watch him cook if you want, I don't care."

"Fish. Tenta eat fish," He murmured under his breath, moving his way off the bed and into the hallway. I shrugged before laughing at a picture my friend online sent back. It was goddamn Splat Tim.

Eventually I grew bored of my laptop and shut it, setting it down on the floor of my bed. A boom of thunder made me jump in my seat, but I quickly got over it. Sliding off my bed, I slowly walked in the hallway and went downstairs, before heading towards the kitchen.

"Tenta, I told you enough times already, you're not going to get this fish." I heard my brother say with slight agitation.

"Fish! Give fish. Hungry." No doubt that was Tenta, annoying my brother and demanding food.

" _No_ , Tenta. If you ask me one more time, I'll only give you a single piece of fish instead of the three like I planned. Go play with Salt."

I walked in just in time to see Terrell silently begging for death to take him and Tenta staring up at him with demanding eyes. A cutting board laid on the counter with large pieces of raw fish strewn upon it, each of them were neatly cut up.

"Fish! Tenta hungry. Fish! Fiiiiish!" Tenta insisted, not backing down despite the threat thrown at him. I winced, knowing that when Terrell said a threat, he was serious about it.

I spoke up, "Tenta, leave Terrell alone. He's going to cook the fish and you'll be able to eat soon, so stop bugging him about it."

The inkling looked back at me with a pissed expression, before quickly nabbing three of the pieces of fish on the cutting board and dashing out of the kitchen. We both watched him dart out the kitchen door, the shock holding us still.

"Did he just…?" I heard Terrell whisper under his breath. Then he sighed, "Alright, fine then. If he wants to play that game, then so be it," he turned back to the stove, "William, please go try to talk some sense into him. When you grab your plate of food make sure you don't share any with Tenta. And make sure he sleeps in his room tonight instead of bunking with you, I know how he's been getting attached to you."

I awkwardly rubbed my neck, "Mmmkay. Do you want me to help you with anything?"

Terrell shook his head, "No no, just let me cook dinner. I'll call you when it's done."

"Okay."

Feeling a little guilty, I quietly stepped out of the kitchen and into the living room, where I spotted Tenta staring straight at me. His lime eyes followed my every move as I walked over to him.

"Terrell's pissed at you, I hope you know that."

He didn't say anything. The raw fish in his hands stunk a bit, but he didn't seem to care.

"He said that the fish in your hands is all you're getting tonight. Which means you're not going to get anything, because it's raw. He also said that you're sleeping in your own room tonight, whether you like it or not."

A flash of disappointment appeared in his eyes, going away as fast as it appeared. Grumbling something under his breath, he reached up a hand holding the fish and…

Shoved them all right into his mouth.

I stood there frozen for a moment, wondering what the absolute _**fuck**_ this dude was thinking.

He chewed it up slowly and swallowed it, having the nerve to lick his lips. I gaped at the boy, before remembering that he was an inkling, a completely different species than us. Maybe they never lost their ability to eat raw food like we did?

"You...You know that the fish you just ate was _raw,_ like I just said, right?" I uttered quietly.

Tenta nodded knowingly, "Yes."

"Alright, okay. Great, inklings are better than humans because they can eat raw shit. Wow. Great. You know what? I'm gonna ignore everything that has happened in the last five minutes. Follow me upstairs if you want, I couldn't care less."

I turned and made my way to the stairs, knowing that Tenta was following close behind like he usually did. We made it to my room, and a small meow confirmed that Salt had followed us up here.

We both sat and chilled in my room for a little while, the thunder getting louder and the lighting strikes brighter. Tenta was laying by my side with Salt in his arms, stroking the kitten quietly. I was tapping away on my laptop, having a conversation with a friend who had moved away to another state, when I noticed Pepper peeking in through the door. Salt wriggled out of Tenta's arms, made her way over to Pepper and left the room with her while quietly purring.

I heard Tenta shift on the bed, and suddenly I could feel him messing with my hair. He played with the loose strands in my messy bun, curling them around his fingers and watching them in awe.

"This?" He asked me, tangling my hair in his fingers.

"Hair." I replied quietly, before sitting up and spinning around on the bed. I felt my tangled hair tug against my head and winced in pain so I tugged it out of Tenta's hands and fixed it back up. I reached up a finger and poked one of Tenta's tentacles.

"Tentacle."

He looked up at me and cupped his tentacle in his hand, "Ten-tenta...Tentacle." A scowl spread on his face. The jig was up, I was done for.

"Will-ee name me tentacle?"

I put on a fake smile, "Uh, I think I heard Terrell call me so I think I'll be downstairs seeyoulater-"

Dashing out of the room, I sprinted down the hallway and stumbled down the stairs. Darting into the kitchen, I could see Terrell putting the cooked fish onto separate plates that had their own sides of veggies. Noticing my arrival, he turned to greet me.

"William! Nice to be here on time, I was going to call you and Alyssa down to grab your plates, but if you want can you please take Alyssa's plate to her room? Since you're going to head back upstairs, I'm assuming."

"Yeah, sure. Maybe shoving food in Alyssa's mouth will quiet her sarcastic attitude," I snickered, taking the plates in my hands and walking out of the kitchen with my older brother.

He gazed over at the plates in my hands, "Y'know, you could part-time as a waiter someday while you're looking for extra money. You have a great sense of balance."

I rolled my eyes, "As much as I'd like to work a job where the workers get shit from customers in return, I'll pass. I'd rather work as a professional dog walker."

Terrell shrugged, "You have a point, as fun as my old waiter job was, I'd really rather not go back to it. You could work at a place that has a good reputation of treating their waiters well, though."

"Like what?"

My older brother hummed, "You could work at a casual cafe, perhaps? Where the neighborhood people would come in and take one to go and you could have a decent chat as they wait."

I scoffed and stopped by the end of the staircase, "Talking to people is the last thing I want, but thanks for the suggestion."

My brother shrugged again as I made my way up the stairs, "You need to start somewhere, little bro."

I eventually made it to Alyssa's room, knocking on her door and quietly waiting for her to open up.

"Who goes there?" I heard her grumble in a mock guard voice.

"It's the big 'n badass dragon who's here to kill you and the queen," I played along, "Open up and I'll make your death a quick one."

Without hesitation, Alyssa opened the door and looked at the plates of food, "Seems smart of a 'big 'n badass' dragon who's only five feet and something tall to have two plates of food and yet threaten to eat me."

I shrugged, "True, but the more the merrier, am I right?"

Alyssa raised a brow, "You only say that saying when it comes to events regarding people, not food."

I grinned, "In this case, people _are_ food, my food, and the event is a party in my stomach to celebrate getting digested."

"Give me my food and leave."

Snickering, I handed her a plate of food and watched her head to shut the door grumpily. Then she paused, looking directly at me in the eye with a confused expression.

"...Hm."

"What?"

She waved her hand in dismissal, "Thought I saw something, g'night."

I shrugged and walked to my room, shutting the door behind me with my foot once I was inside. Looking at the bed, I could see Tenta messing with my laptop. He was probably curious about it and wondering what was on it, but kept it shut to respect my privacy. He looked up at the sound of the door shutting, and immediately retracted his hands from the laptop. He looked like he was about to say something, but saw the food on my plate and halted.

He chirped something in his language, hopping off the bed and running straight to me, eyes never leaving the food on my plate.

I frowned, "You do know that I can't give you anymore food, right? Terrell said so."

Tenta murmured something, but kept his eyes glued to the plate. He then looked at me in the eyes, trying to pull a sad look and make me give him the food. I glared back and quickly walked around the inkling to the bed, not falling for his tricks. I could hear him give a sigh of disappointment, knowing that his plan had failed.

"Play the puppy-dog eye trick on me all you want, it's just gonna fail."

He gave me a look that seemed to ask _how do you know?_

"I have little baby cousins who use their cuteness to their advantage, I've hardened over the years." I climbed onto my bed and opened up my laptop, taking a bite of my food as I scrolled over messages I received in my short time gone.

"Oh…" He whispered under his breath, following in my footsteps and climbing back onto the bed with me. Tenta gazed at my laptop screen over my shoulder, trying to spy on what I type and look at up there.

"You do know that you can't read, right?" I asked him in amusement.

He hummed in return, eyes not leaving the screen. His ear twitched slightly, which I reluctantly admit that it was cute as hell, though it wouldn't get past me. He suddenly snapped up, pointing to something on the screen and shouting something in his gurgly voice.

"...What?" I asked, looking to where he pointed. I froze, realizing my mistake.

It was a picture of an inkling girl. A drawing, to be precise, of a friend's oc they drew themselves.

"..." I was unsure what to say that could decrease the pissed off level on Tenta's face, "...I'll give you all my food if you let me explain it later when you're more fluent in English."

...

I sighed in relief as Tenta gorged on my food, having dodged a _huge_ bullet right there. The little asshole just discovered that we know of his species, and now he seemed a little wary of me.

Alyssa, Terrell and I all came together and agreed that we wouldn't mention anything about Splatoon to Tenta. We hid everything Splatoon related, the game case, the amiibos, posters and squid hats, everything. We didn't really know what would happen. Would he grow mad at us? Would he explode? Would a black hole appear? Well, seeing as only one of those occurred I can decide that we're not in any danger of something spontaneous happening.

Looking back at him, I could see the squid cleaning the plate with his tongue, pausing in his action when he noticed I was looking at him with amusement. He looked at me, then at the plate, then me again, then at the plate yet again. Then he shrugged, continuing to lick the plate and ignoring me in the process. I took the plate from him once I decided that the poor dish was getting harassed enough, setting it on the dresser where he'd have a slightly difficult time reaching it.

Grumbling softly under his breath, he flopped back on the bed and closed his eyes, content with the extra meal I provided him. I rolled my eyes and shut my laptop, putting it under my bed for it to charge into the morning.

A roll of thunder went through the house, the both of us being reminded of the storm outside the window. The lights flickered and I saw Tenta's eyes snap right up at the overhead light in the room. His gaze was fixed upon it before he looked straight at me, unnaturally silent.

We kept the staring contest up for a while until I eventually grew a little unnerved.

"You okay?"

Tenta jumped upright as if I woke him from a nap with an airhorn. He looked down at his twiddling fingers for a moment, muttering quietly to himself, before looking back up.

"Tenta no like storm."

I raised my brows, "You don't like the thunderstorm?"

He nodded his head in confirmation, "Sleep hard when storm. Storm bad. Scary? Scary."

I hummed, "Well, I'd offer you to sleep with me tonight but Terrell said that you needed to sleep in your own room tonight, and I already messed up one of the things he told me to do."

Tenta shook his head rapidly, "No, no! Please, Will-ee? Tenta sleep in Will-ee room."

Sighing, I reached over and picked up the inkling by the waist with an arm, who instantly began struggling. I quickly placed him outside my bedroom and grasped him by the shoulders.

"I can't be caught breaking Terrell's orders, okay? I fucked up one already and I'd really rather not fuck up another. Terrell seems like a nice guy, and he is, but he can be a _very_ intimidating parent when it comes down to it. You and I would both get in deep, deep shit."

Tenta held his mouth in a straight line, his eyes blank. He gave a curt nod and turned around to head to the guest room, not looking back.

"Goodnight." I called after him, receiving a slammed shut door as a reply. Sighing, I turned around and walked back into my room to head to sleep. I shut the door behind me and locked it, lest Alyssa walk in and try to make me smack whipped cream all over my face yet again.

He'd be fine, probably just pissed that Terrell gave me those instructions in the first place.

Turning out the lights, I climbed in the bed and nestled myself into the covers. The pouring rain outside was pleasing to my ears, along with the thunder that shook the house occasionally. I let out a pleased sigh, letting my head slowly be swallowed by the pillow that sat under it.

* * *

I didn't know when the knocking started, but I was woken up by it and I was a little ticked off. I sat up in bed in exasperation, looking at my bedroom door, which was the source of the noise. I decided to wait a little while to see if the knocking would stop. Y'know, like a smart person.

It didn't. If anything, when the thunder clapped, it went faster and harder along with the occasional rapid fiddling with my doorknob. I groaned, swinging my legs over the edge of my bed and hopping to the cool carpet flooring of my room. Trudging my way over to the door, I fumbled with the door handle and unlocked it, turning the knob with a sleepy hand.

What would you know, it's Tenta.

The inkling walked in without so much as a 'hello', hastily striding into my room and hopping onto my bed. He proceeded to shove the bed's blankets over his head and mutter a quiet phrase.

"Goodnight."

Too tired to go against his shit, I pinched the bridge of my nose and climbed onto my bed as well. I sighed roughly through my nostrils and nestled my way back into the covers, closing my eyes and happily making my way to dreamtown with the thunderstorm to guide me.

...He's fucking crying isn't he.

…

A sniffle.

 _Of course he is._

I draped an arm over my face and sighed. Looking over at the lump next to me on the bed, I reached an arm over and pulled the blankets off his head. I could instantly see the tear tracks on his cheeks and his little runny nose. He looked up at me with his big and glossy lime eyes, probably scared he was going to be booted out.

My gaze softened at the sight and I sighed again, "Okay, come here," I slowly reached over and took one of his hands and tugged it to motivate him. It took a moment, but he eventually scooted over in the bed. I wrapped a protective arm around his form and pulled him a little closer, rubbing his back reassuringly.

"You're a terrified little shit, aren'tcha?" I murmured softly, moving my hand to stroke one of Tenta's ears softly. He didn't reply, but seemed to relax despite the storm outside the house.

"Makes me wonder why you're so scared in the first place. Are inklings naturally afraid of storms? Is that it?"

I didn't receive an answer. Instead, Tenta nuzzled his face into one of my pillows and yawned, too tired to stay up for much longer.

"Tenta want home."

"...Hm?" I was caught off guard when I heard his voice in the midst of the rain outside.

He slurred his words slightly as he started dozing off, "Tenta want home. F-friend home. Tenta want them. Friend...p-pos…possibly want me. I...I be gone long. Very long."

I sighed, wishing that he could speak to me more fluently, but I knew what he was trying to say.

"You miss them. Miss, not want," I explained to the dozing inkling, "You miss your friends, your home."

He nodded, "Tenta miss me friend, Will-ee. Tenta miss th-them..lots."

I hummed, not sure how to reply.

He took a breath in, "Storm not scare inklings. Storm make me scare. Tenta a-am scare of storm...Very s-sssorry."

I reached over and stroked his ear once more, "It's not your fault you're scared of storms, that's perfectly okay. We all have our phobias."

"Mmm..." He looked so tired. There was a glint in his drooping eyes, though, of happiness and trust. Is it normal for someone to be so trusting? An improvement from the crying mess he was earlier, at least.

That glint quickly went away however, as he was starting to fall under. He yawned and snuggled his face fully into the pillow, already fast asleep.

That left me time to sit and think.

All this time, Tenta probably was missing some important things back home. Does time here pass by differently than in the Splatoon universe? Does he have an apartment? Did he miss out on his rent? Are turf wars his only source of income? If he's the most powerful rank, how tough really is this kid? He may not respond great to storms, but he has resilience.

I looked over at the snoozing inkling. His tentacles were flopped along with his head on the pillow, glistening in the moonlight outside. His breathing had evened out, his mouth wide open with drool leaking out the side onto the pillow below. What a loser.

 _Huh, must've stopped raining_ , I eventually came to realize, glancing at the lone window in my room next to my bed. I sighed and closed my eyes, disappointed that the rain was over but glad that Tenta was able to fall asleep. I sat in silence and pondered over Tenta's predicament as the inkling snoozed next to me.

It must suck to be stuck somewhere where nothing is familiar to you. None of your friends or family there to help you out. Then again, couldn't he have tried to contact them on his phone? Wait, no, he'd have no service. His phone is for a service that doesn't even exist yet. I wonder what kind of apps he has on there, then again it's probably dead since he's been here so long. Is there a turf war app similar to our splatnet? Man, I wish I could just ask him without a goddamn language barrier.

My thoughts eventually trailed off as I dozed, and the night was calm.


	8. we all probably knew this was coming

**Full bold quotes is inkling speech unless said otherwise. English names are not part of Inktonian language, so they're not bold. I tried using Underlines for inkling speech but the look just didn't sit right with me. Hope this isn't too hard of a read!**

* * *

The moment I woke up I knew immediately that something was off.

Blinking my eyes open, I yawned and smacked my mouth. I grimaced, practically tasting the foul morning breath that I was cursed to have every day. I looked to my side and noticed Tenta wasn't there.

 _Probably downstairs eating breakfast_ , I thought. Pulling off my covers, I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and stood up like I always did every morning.

At least, that's what I was planning on doing. Instead, I fell to the floor as soon as my feet made contact to the ground. Confused, I tried to slowly rise back up and walk over to the mirror to see if anything visible happened to me, but I flopped right back onto the floor before I could take even one proper step. I was sore and weak and I had absolutely no clue why.

 _Okay, fine, we're gonna crawl._

Pushing past the humiliation, I slowly pushed myself on all fours towards the mirror, begging to whatever force is out there to not let Alyssa or Terrell walk in at this embarrassing moment. Mostly the former. Knees aching slightly from being on the carpet so long, I managed to make it to the mirror.

What I saw in the mirror? The answer may shock you.

Okay, not really. You know what I saw at this point, I'm sure of it. Let me give you a hint, it has brown skin, a big forehead, and purple tentacles tied up in a ponytail instead of a bun. Know what's wrong with the picture? I'll give you five seconds to guess.

Got it? No? I'll give you five more seconds.

Ready? No? I'll give you- Nah, I'm just messing with you.

I sat in shock at the reflection before me, disbelieving anything I was seeing was real. The inkling in the mirror had bright golden eyes and a black face mask around them, much like the rest of the inkling race. The "hair" he had on his head was purple and he had three main tentacles, two in his ponytail and one draping off the side of his head. The side of _my_ head.

I slowly lifted up my right arm, my reflection lifted up his left. I opened my mouth, and sure enough, the beak was there with all its white glory. I noticed that the inside of my mouth was purple, the same shade that matched my ink color.

When I lifted my arm I realized why I couldn't walk. My muscles were weak, I didn't know how to properly even take a step in this body. The proportions of an inkling are different than a human, plus they're (we're?) made of a completely different substance. I hoped I wouldn't trip on my feet, but given that I'd made a ridiculous height change and my head, feet, and hands were larger, I'd probably have to relearn how to walk.

Groaning softly to myself, I leaned against the wall and shakily stood up on my two feet. I cautiously took a step forward, getting used to how my new feet worked. It all felt so _odd_ , like my limbs were made of jello or slime. I took another step forward, and then another, I wanted to get this walking thing under control. Running was another problem for another time.

Soon I was able to walk at a slow pace, but I couldn't speed up without risking tripping over my own feet. Sighing, I slowly turned back to the mirror and looked at my outfit. My pajama shirt slung awkwardly over my shoulders, too big to fit properly. I had to ditch my pants to walk properly, given that they were too long for my short form now. My underwear I desperately tried to keep on, but I knew they were a size or more too big for me. They were hidden under my shirt anyway, so if I chose to walk out right now I'd be covered with no problem.

That being said, I didn't want to leave my room. Looking like this, I didn't know what to expect from my family, especially Tenta. Even if I didn't care about that, I didn't want to present myself to my family half dressed, that'd just be wrong.

Mustering up the little courage I had, I reached for the doorknob and silently opened the door to my room. I felt my ears twitch at the sound of the door creaking on its hinges, and I jumped from just how _loud_ that noise was. Was it already that loud, or did my new hearing make it more acute? I didn't dwell on it long, choosing to quickly shuffle over to the guest room, where Tenta's clothes were kept.

I managed to slowly put on a purple hoodie and some black shorts, but left my feet uncovered because I didn't want to walk on smooth floors with my current walking ability _and_ have socks on. Just make my gravestone right now.

Looking back at my room once I re-entered the hallway, I remembered my glasses. Then I remembered that I have a big head and they wouldn't fit either way. Great, I have to live with being nearsighted for now.

I steadily made my way to the stairs, and looked down at them with wide eyes. There's no way I'd be able to get all the way down there and live. I contemplated living upstairs for the rest of my life when I figured I could slowly butt-scoot my way down there. It may have shattered my dignity but at least I'd be able to live for another day.

After some minutes of pure embarrassment, I managed to make it to the bottom of the stairs with a burning ass. I saw Salt napping beside Pepper by the couch, and I let a small smile touch my lips. Then I frowned, remembering that I'd have to eventually encounter Tenta and my family and had _no_ idea how it would go.

The smell of bacon and eggs made my stomach jump start, a low growl coming from it as a warning I should get food soon. I sighed, slowly standing up and making my way to the kitchen, being careful not to trip. I stumbled a couple times on the way there, but I was getting the hang of it. I think.

I peeked in through the doorway, spotting the three others sitting and chatting at the table with plates in front of them, all about to dig in. Well, two of them, Tenta was already wolfing the bacon down like a pig. I slowly stepped in and began to say something, but tripped over nothing and fell to the floor painfully and loudly.

I could hear the chatter go to silence and a gasp of shock. I wheezed in pain and shakily stood back to my feet, blinking away the stinging tears in my eyes. My large golden eyes scanned the scene in front of me, my sight still blurry but surprisingly much sharper than before.

All I really saw were two dark brown blurry messes and one tan one rapidly eating the bacon, but I heard the sound of a fork clattering down onto the dining table, most likely dropped by Terrell. He could be a little dramatic when startled. I saw the tan blurry mess slowly hop down from a chair (it might've been a chair) and walk right in front of me. Would you look at that, it's Tenta.

"W-William? Is that you?" I heard Terrell ask me, but I couldn't determine which blurry blob was him.

Tenta tilted his head in slight curiosity, his lime green eyes studying my form before lifting a finger and poking my cheek, "Will-ee? I-Is you?"

I grunted in irritation and shoved his finger from my face, _**"**_ **Please don't touch my face, I spent fifteen years getting it this perfect."**

He jumped and stepped back with a startled look in his wide eyes, **"You can speak Inktonian? But you're** Will-ee **, you can't speak Inktonian, you only speak** English. **"**

I tilted my head, confused and alarmed, **"The hell do you mean I'm speaking Inktonian? Is that what your language is called? Really original. But no, I'm speaking clean** English **right now, I'm not speaking Inktonian."**

Tenta chuckled and rolled his eyes, **"Yeah, sure, and I'm a sea shrimp alien who's come to invade this planet with a maraca and a bean bag. Sure. How else are you communicating with me, then?"**

I defensively shrugged my shoulders, **"I dunno! Maybe some sort of government agent came in and lodged a translation device into my brain and my form is only a hologram…?"**

The pink inkling stared blankly at me, **"...What?"**

I threw my hands up into the air, **"Fuck it! I'm going back to bed, I'm probably having a really strange lucid dream right now.** Alyssa, Terrell, **don't wake me, even if the world is ending."**

I turned to leave the dining room, and on my way out the door I accidentally misstepped and fell to the hard floor. Wheezing softly, I inched my way back to my knees and moved to start crawling out the kitchen instead, but I felt someone scoop me off the ground.

"OH MY GOD, WILL! Man, you look so much better than you did when you were human!" I heard Alyssa yell into my ear, quickly agitating me as I was hefted up by my stomach with her surprisingly strong arms. Well, not surprising. She's beaten me in arm wrestling plenty of times.

She looked down at me with her brown eyes sparkling with delight, "Your eyes are golden too! I don't think that's a selection in the game, so you must be pretty unique! Nice, you even have one of the newer hairstyles! I'd be hella jealous of you if it weren't for the fact that you can't wear your glasses now."

" **Yeah, I figured. I'm fucking blind."** I murmured under my breath bitterly. I struggled in her grip for a moment, but she kept her hold tight. I grew from agitated to upset, physically trying to force her arms apart to let me go, since apparently she's forgotten about the concept of personal space.

When that didn't work, I looked over at Tenta with pleading eyes, **"** Tentaaaaaaa, **please help meeeee."**

Tenta grinned at me and walked out of the kitchen smugly, **"Hmm…...** _ **Naaaaaaaah."**_

" _ **Fuck you!"**_ I screeched after him, but he was already in the living room, probably playing with Salt. He must have a thing for cats, which makes me bet he was team cat in that one splatfest. No wonder he was such a dick, he's a cat lover.

I whimpered in Alyssa's hold, wanting no more than to be let go, "Terrell!" I yelled at the other brown blob, who's been quiet the whole time. **"** Terrell! _ **Please get her to let go of me!"**_

Terrell stood up from his seat, "William, I can't understand what you're saying but I know what you want. Alyssa, set him down on the ground," he instructed her, _"Gently,"_ he emphasized.

With a sigh of disappointment under her breath, I was let down to the ground at last, my asshole sister trudging out of the kitchen and up to her room. I went to kneel down and kiss the cold dining room floor. Then I was picked up again. Great.

Terrell held me up bridal style, "Will, I know you're not into being carried, but I know that you're probably having a hard time walking right now with this...new body. You should take things slow and let me help you a little. I don't mind, you're very light in this form."

I huffed and kicked my legs angrily, **"For fucks sake- Fine! Just to not get scrapes on my goddamn arms and knees."** The skin on my knees already started to sting a little bit.

Terrell couldn't understand me, but he knew I was admitting bitter defeat, "Don't be grumpy about it, at least I'm not letting you injure yourself from falling." He set me down on one of the chairs and fixed a plate of food for me, placing it in front of me on the table. He held out a fork to me and I took it with a hesitant hand.

I looked over the food on my plate. Eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, the full breakfast bunch. I eyed the bacon and sausage in particular, oddly more interested in the meat than the other two items. Which was strange because pancakes were the _shit_. I awkwardly raised the fork in my hand and jabbed one of the sausages, clumsily twisting my wrist to take it off the plate and jamming it into my mouth.

I almost melted at the taste of the sausage in my mouth. It was so much better than I remembered it being before. I greedily ditched the fork and used my hands to shovel the rest of the food on my plate into my mouth. Chewing felt weird, since my teeth weren't teeth anymore, just a beak. I ran my tongue over one of my fangs, realizing just how _pointy_ this thing was. No wonder Tenta's teeth sunk through Terrell's arm so easily, he could possibly make a dent in solid metal with one chomp!

I was too busy savoring the taste of the food (mostly the bacon and sausage) in my mouth to notice Terrell criticizing my greedy consumption of the food. He snatched my crumbless plate right from under my nose, though I didn't care.

He rolled his eyes and set my plate on the counter, "God, Will, you're eating like a one year old infant."

I maturely stuck my tongue out in reply. Amused, Terrell grabbed a wet rag and scrubbed at my face, to which I protested greatly.

"You have bacon crumbs everywhere, Will. Next time, could you not be such a messy eater?" He said as he cleaned off my face. Then he moved to my hands and I resisted the urge to bite him. I hate it when he gets into parent mode on us, it's embarrassing. Sure, Alyssa and I bicker like two five year olds, but we can still take care of ourselves. Mostly.

As soon as he was done I hopped off the chair and darted to the living room. I tried to anyway, but I unfortunately forgot that I can't walk well in this form, and tripped yet again. I wheezed and shakily stood back up to my feet, getting sick of feeling my knees scraping against the floor. I saw Terrell step out in front of me, holding out a hand with a smile, offering to help guide me to the living room and not risk another painful tumble. Face flushing in embarrassment, I reluctantly took his hand and let him lead me into the living room, occasionally tripping up on my feet.

Once in the room, I spotted Tenta on the couch with Salt in his lap, watching TV. The sight was funny because he could barely understand English and the TV was playing a documentary on elephants. He doesn't even know what elephants _are_ ….At least, I think they were elephants. My sight was still fucked up given I didn't have my glasses.

I slowly stepped my way over to them, Terrell no longer with me since he went back to the kitchen, and greeted a curious Pepper on the way there. She sniffed my clothes and then my hand, getting an idea of who I was. She tilted her head and huffed through her nose, then walked over to Tenta and Salt, poking Salt with her snout and wagging her tail. The kitten mewled and hopped from Tenta's lap, joining Pepper on whatever adventure they were off to. Tenta briefly looked disappointed at Salt's departure, but then noticed me staring at him.

" **Hi."** I said in 'Inktonian', plain and simple. I made my way to the couch and climbed upon it, the abnormal proportions of the inkling body making me fumble for a moment, but I eventually got myself seated right next to Tenta. He looked at me with a confused expression, before looking back at the TV.

" **So, what are those things? They look strange, with their giant noodle noses."** He commented on the documentary, pointing at one of the baby elephants that was playing in the water. I think. All I really saw was a big mass of grey with some blue.

I squinted slightly at the blurry display on the TV, another cruel reminder that I could no longer wear my glasses, **"Those are elephants. They're big and can toot those 'giant noodle noses'. I think they're our biggest land mammal."**

Tenta's pink eyebrows rose slightly, **"Those are elephants? Also, land mammal? What's your biggest sea mammal, then?"**

I hummed, **"I think they're whales? Wait, hang on, how do you not know what elephants are?"**

Tenta glanced at me from the TV screen and shrugged, **"Most of the land mammals back at my home are dead."**

I laughed and laid against the couch cushion, **"Dude, holy shit. Why are they dead?"**

Tenta tilted his head in thought, **"Some flood killed them all. We're finding skeletons everywhere, mostly of these monkey looking things that look similar to your family. We've found at least two billion of them already."**

I coughed, trying to hide my knowing smile. The pink inkling gave me a weird look and I just grinned innocently in return.

" **...Y'know, I've realized something."** I spoke up, distracting Tenta once more from the documentary.

" **Eh?"**

" **Your language only has specific words, some that don't exist in** English. **Like that! The word** 'English' **doesn't exist in your tongue."**

Tenta slouched against the armrest of the couch and turned to me, **"I mean, we've never heard of that word before, so of course we wouldn't have a word for it."**

I was intrigued, **"So there's specific** English **words that don't exist in Inktonian…"**

Tenta looked at me with a bored expression, **"Uh-huh."**

I focused, **"Bean. Apple. Corn. Tree. Dog. Lotion."**

 **"What the hell are you doing?"**

 **"Trying to find a word in Inktonian that doesn't have an** English **translation."**

Tenta narrowed his eyes and sat up, **"...Saying random words in Inktonian won't help you find a word in** English **that doesn't exist in my language."**

 **"I can** _ **try!"**_

After a second of glaring at each other, I glanced off to the side and began fiddling with my ponytail, my tentacles having felt like they've been squeezed aggressively since I woke up. Why could I feel my tentacles? Why is that a thing?

 **"Well, seeing as how I can say words that only exist in** English **like names, I wanted to check and see if it worked with other words too."**

Tenta rolled his eyes and slouched against the couch once again, **"Smart."**

 **"I happen to think it's a genius idea, thank you very much. It's strange, though. I'm unable to speak** English **but I can understand it clearly."**

 **"How can you just stop being able to speak your native language in one day?"**

I looked at Tenta with an unamused expression, **"I'm a human that** _ **maaagically**_ **turned into an inkling overnight for no real apparent reason, and you're asking me how I can't speak my native language of all things."**

Tenta just grinned awkwardly. What an intelligent conversation.

I then gasped in delight despite the ache in my arms from being lifted over my head for so long. For fucks sake, why can't I undo a simple ponytail? My tentacles are dying.

 **"Oh wait, holy shit. I'm no longer a human. Dude! I'm one of the cutest beings on this planet, I could make people become my** _ **slaves!**_ **People would be forced to do my bidding!"**

Tenta laughed and slouched back against the couch once more, **"You don't know the half of it! Shrimps and sea anemones back at home are always the ones who fell for inklings who would beg for shit. Sea urchins and sharks are the hardest to convince, and jellyfish are our rivals.** _ **Never**_ **try looking cute with the shopkeepers, though, they know all of the tricks."**

I grinned, successfully undoing the ponytail my tentacles were stuck in, the two of them flopping to the sides of my head. I briefly sighed in relief and shivered when they made contact with my shoulders, realizing that they weren't like human hair at all. Plus I could feel through them, so there was that. I also noticed how slimy they felt, though there was no residue on my hands when I pulled them away. Everything about inklings was so _odd_.

" **Those are your tentacles. Yes, I know. It was a very strange experience for me when I first discovered them too."** I never really thought about how much of a snarky piece of shit Tenta actually could be until now.

" **Excuse me for turning into an inkling overnight and not knowing a single thing about my biology!"** I retorted, stubbornly tying my tentacles back into their ponytail a little looser. At least, I tried to, but they kept slipping from my fingers.

Tenta shrugged and started crawling along the couch, making his way behind me and starting to fiddle with my tentacles. **"Fair. Also, you gotta keep your tentacles firm in your hands, like this,"** he said, gripping my tentacles and easily tying them back up into a rather loose ponytail. I still couldn't get over the fact that I could feel through the tentacles. Have you ever wondered what it'd be like to be able to feel through your hair? Well, now I know the answer and _ **I do not like it.**_

" **You tied them up too loose! They feel like they're gonna fall out."** I whined, feeling tempted to touch my tentacles but decided against it. They felt like they could fall out from the slightest touch.

Tenta shook his head, **"Trust me, you'll want those tentacles of yours to be loose like that, it's not healthy to keep them tied up too tight or you'll cut off circulation of blood and ink."**

 **"Oh."**

We had a moment of silence, the two of us watching the elephant documentary on the TV. Well, one of us, I couldn't see it. The elephants were doing elephant things, tooting their 'noodle noses' and walking around in a herd. I heard Tenta groan next to me, clearly sounding bored. We both sat in even more excruciating silence as the documentary moved on to zebras.

 **"I'm surprised you're not a little more freaked out about this. Then again, I'm not really either."** Tenta murmured with a small yawn, breaking the silence. He shuffled in his seat and laid his head back against the cushion in boredom once more, watching the tv with half-lidded eyes.

I shrugged, scratching behind my pointed ear, **"I spent all of my freak-out energy when you flew in through our television. I'm neutral at this point in all honesty."**

Tenta turned to look at me with wide eyes, his large pupils practically staring into my soul, **"I flew in through your television? Did I actually do that?"**

 **"Yeah, you were screaming as you came in too. Your gun hit me on the nose and busted it open so now I have a scar riiiight here,"** I explained, pointing to the fading scar on my nose. It's weird to think that I got it because a plastic cartoon gun flew at me at what felt like 60 miles an hour.

Tenta rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, **"Oops, sorry about that. But my gun? You guys had it and didn't tell me? Where is it? Can I have it back?"**

 **"Well, when it landed on the floor there was a pretty big dent in it, so I really doubt it would be much use to you anymore. We still have it, we just took it and locked it away because we didn't want you to try and shoot us with it or anything."**

The pink inkling hummed in understanding.

I couldn't help but ask a question for curiosity, **"So...what was the deal with you having all those injuries? They looked like they really fuckin' hurt."**

 **"Injuries?"**

I nodded and took Tenta's arm, tracing my finger around one of the scars around his wrist, **"These ones. How did you get these? The three of us didn't know exactly what happened to you when you flew in. You looked pretty fucked up, though."**

The other inkling was silent, studying the scarred and bumpy skin on his wrist. He then pulled back his leg and rolled down his sock, looking at the scars on his ankles too.

 **"I...I got captured by bad guys.** _ **Reaaaaally**_ **bad guys."**

By bad guys he must've meant the Octarians, but I didn't want to go through the whole "character is told that they're from a video game" situation just yet, so I played dumb.

 **"They must've done a number on you, there were wounds all around your wrists and ankles. My sister thought that there might've been cuffs on you that caused them, based on how they went all around your arms and legs."**

Tenta didn't say anything, just giving a small hum in reply as he rubbed the scar with his thumb.

" **You were pretty banged up when you came in, what happened?** " I asked him, slightly tilting my head in curiosity.

Tenta just shook his head with a deep frown, " **I don't wanna talk about it.** "

I shrugged once more, " **Fine. Doesn't mean I won't try to wrestle the answer out of you, though.** "

The pink inkling rolled his eyes and stood up off the couch, heading for the stairs, " **Sure, good luck with that, dude. I'd like to see you give it your best shot.** "

 **"Y'know, I think I liked the quiet and fewer words** Tenta **better. It was much nicer hearing your broken** English **than this."**

 **"Well, I saw a missing poster with his face on it, maybe you can find him if you give the number on it a call."**

I narrowed my eyes, **"...What's the number?"**

The other inkling turned back to me, halfway up the stairs. He had a blank look on his face as he looked straight into my golden eyes.

 **"Nya."**

 _ **"What?"**_

 **"Nyan of your business."**

I stared at him in utter disbelief and watched as he made his way up the staircase. What's wrong with me being curious about what happened to him? What an asshole. Tenta cackled too much like my sister as he made his way up the staircase and I was half tempted to run after him and kick his ass before I remembered that my walking ability was as good as nonexistent.

This inkling is not going to be fun to live with.


	9. i still really hate tenta

Tenta and I were in my room a couple of days later, standing in front of the long mirror that was hung opposite of my bed, allowing me to see what I was wearing as soon as I woke up. We both were comparing our appearances to each other, to see how much of an inkling I truly was.

First off was our heights.

I groaned, realizing that Tenta was noticeably taller than me. A couple of inches at most, the inkling easily able to look down on me, and me up at him.

 **"Should I nickname you 'shortstack'? Is that a good name?"** I heard Tenta say beside me.

I turned to him with a sly smile, **"No, that should be your name, Mr. 'I throw up pancakes I just ate five minutes ago.'"**

 _ **" _I_ SAID I WAS SORRY FOR THAT!"**_ Tenta shrieked, his cheeks shining a bright pink in embarrassment. He roughly folded his arms and scrunched up his face, huffing through his nose and pouting.

 **"Say that to the pants in the trash with your** _ **vomit that you wiped all over them!"**_

 **"THE P-….IT- Uh…"** Tenta stuttered as he tried to think up a reply, **"Why didn't you just** _ **wash them?"**_

 **"I'm not touching your vomit on my pants."** I said with a disgusted face, subconsciously wiping my hands on my shirt at the thought of my trashed jeans.

 **"Gloves."**

 **"..."**

 **"..."**

 **"...Anyway, back to our appearances."**

 **"You had _gloves,_ shortstack."**

 **"You're still gonna call me that, even though you're the one who deserves the name even more?"**

Tenta grew defensive, **"It's just a neat little nickname! And you're short, so that's also a thing."**

 **"Y'know what's also short?"**

 **"What?"**

 **"The goddamn patience I have for you."**

 **"I'm taking that as a compliment."** Tenta snorted, then tilted his head once he looked in the mirror again, **"What color's your eyes now, shortstack? They're different."**

I shrugged my shoulders, **"They're golden colored now. Y'know, yellow with a bit of red mixed into it like...in a gradient? But yeah, tt's off-putting to have such brightly colored eyes now. Living all my life as a black human with brown eyes, it's kinda fucking with me with this sudden color change. I mean, golden eyes? Straight up** _ **gold?**_ **It's jarring."**

Tenta curiously tilted his head and looked into the mirror once more, **"Y'know, golden eyes aren't that common in inklings. I mean we have regular yellow, but pretty golden eyes are rare. I guess you're special."**

I hummed and tapped a finger to my chin, **"So am I the** ginger **of the inklings?"**

Tenta glanced back at me with a curious expression, **"** Giiiing-er? **What's that?"**

I clicked my tongue, **"Right, inklings don't have hair. That's one word to add to your dictionary, I guess. Well, certain humans are born with red colored hair, rather than the normal blond, brown, or black. Those humans are really rare, so we refer to them as** gingers **."**

I then remembered a second part of his statement, **"Did you just call my eyes 'pretty'?"**

 **"Ohh, well that sorta makes sense, I guess. And yes, I did. Your eyes actually are really pretty, for an inkling anyway."**

I wasn't sure how to respond to that, **"Er, thanks? Your eyes look nice too, I guess. They're very bright and lively, suits you."**

Tenta smiled and stared down at the floor with a bit of sheepishness, **"...Thanks. People don't really comment on my eyes.** "

 **"They don't? Well that's stupid, your eyes are a very pretty green. They're very bright, like a lime, a very nice lime. Or maybe an emerald? I'm not sure, I'm not that great at naming colors."**

 **"Neither am I! I guess your eyes...look like lemons, then? Was that a shit fruit choice?"**

I squinted, **"That was definitely a shit fruit choice. I'd say that my eyes look more like honey, but slightly more on the yellower side. Or maybe a peach? Peaches are good."**

Tenta tilted his head and frowned, **"I've never had a peach, they're kinda rare and I never really had the time to go and get one."**

I gave him a strange look and scoffed, **"What? How could you not have had a peach? How in your entire life, have you never tasted a peach? In all of your...wait, how old are you?"**

 **"Fifteen. What about you? Did you just turn fourteen or something?'**

I scowled, absentmindedly messing with my ponytail, **"I'm fifteen too, asshole."**

He narrowed his eyes and scanned my form, judging my height, **"...Really?"**

 _ **"** ** _Y_ es." **_I sighed exaggeratedly, my ear flickering ever so slightly in agitation, **"I was short for my age as a human, and I guess I'm short for my age as an inkling too."**

 **"All the more reason to call you shortst-"**

 **"** _ **MY PANTS ARE IN THE TRASH,**_ _TENTA_ _ **!"**_ I screeched jokingly, causing Tenta to burst into laughter.

 **"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"**

 **"What were you even thinking that day? We gave you fresh pancakes and you went ahead and threw them up and wiped the gross vomit all over my pants!"**

Tenta irritatedly threw his arms up, **"I dunno! I had just came out of a terrible, shit place and was apprehensive as shit! I wasn't thinking straight, I dunno!"**

 **"Why the hell did you eat the pancakes we gave you _and then_ start attacking us? That's some backwards as hell thinking right there."**

 **" _I was hungry!"_**

 **"So what you're saying is that you think with your stomach?"**

Tenta looked like he desperately wanted to retort, opening his mouth and closing it a couple times as he struggled to think of what to say next. Eventually, he sighed, twiddling his thumbs together as he admitted bitter defeat.

 **"...Sometimes."**

 **"That's really sad, man."**

The other inkling gave me a playful shove, **"I wasn't being fed much before I came here, okay? I was tired, hungry, and upset. I only think with my stomach when I'm desperate for food."**

I narrowed my eyes, **"You basically just said that you only think with your stomach when you're starving, literally just like every other person."**

Tenta promptly twirled around, heading towards my bed with the most neutral expression on an inkling I've ever seen, **"I quit."**

I barked out a loud laugh as Tenta grumpily climbed onto the bed and shoved his head into one of the pillows. I attempted to follow after him, but climbing on the bed proved to be much more difficult in this body than I expected, since I had a solid fifteen seconds of struggling to even jump up onto the mattress. After falling to the floor _twice,_ I groaned and asked Tenta to help me onto the bed and he, like the good friend I hoped he was, helped me onto the bed with only a little bit of laughing.

 **"This new body fucking** _ **sucks."**_ I complained, awkwardly adjusting my position to feel comfortable for my weird proportions. I mean, my hands were the size of my face. That doesn't sound bad until you remember the fact that my face was upscaled three times because of my big, goddamn head.

Tenta shrugged, **"It's awkward at first but you'll get the hang of it."**

I gave him a cold, hard glare, **"My Legs Are Twigs, Tenta."**

 **"So are mine, and I'm just fine."**

 **"How the fuck do you even walk? Our feet are huge and our legs are so far apart that teenage girls with low self esteem would die to have our gap."**

 **"What kind of teenage girls live in your world?"**

 **"They're all terrible. Awful. They're all over the place, I don't like them. Have you** _ **met**_ **my sister?"**

Tenta made an odd noise, **"You have a sister?"**

I snickered, **"Yeah, she's the one you spat in the face after she gave you a sandwich. She hates your guts."**

 _ **"** ** _Wh_ oops."**_

I lazily let my head tilt to the side, **"Why don't you like her? I get that she's annoying but she's still my sister."**

He shrugged his shoulders, **"I dunno, she just gave me weird vibes. She's weird."**

I snorted, **"You can say that again."** I muttered under my breath.

My curiosity piqued when I thought about returning the question.

 **"What about you? Do you have a sister?"**

Something changed. The air around us felt different, going so quickly from light and fun to suffocating and stuffy. Tension flooded the air and a gross silence was ringing in my ears. This was fucking me up, this was fucking me up pretty bad. I felt so unsettled by whatever the hell was happening that I wanted to jump off the bed and run out the room.

I looked over at Tenta to see what was the deal, and I felt a painful twist in my chest at what I saw. His eyes were downcast to the mattress, staring at nothing. The light in them had disappeared so fast, leaving nothing but an odd emptiness. Second by second it felt like the world was getting darker, more grayscale. It scared the living shit out of me.

 **"I don't want to talk about it."** He mumbled quietly with a somber tone, shaking his head ever so slightly.

That was incredibly shitty of me to ask.

Feeling unsure on how to fix this situation, I did the only thing I thought was right. I leaned forward and gently wrapped my arms around his shoulders, doing my damned best to give him a hug that'd help even just a little.

I heard him breathe in a shuddering breath as he returned the hug for a couple seconds until he eventually pushed me away. Tenta shook his head as he wiped his eyes, laughing sheepishly.

 **"'M sorry about that."**

 **"We can change the subject if you want."**

He sighed and rested his head into his hands, **"I can...I can talk about the rest of my family if you want, and what my childhood was like. To make up for...all that."**

I shifted awkwardly in my seat. This didn't feel right. **"Please don't. Let's change the subject to something different from family."**

Tenta stared at me for a second with an unsure expression on his face, then he snorted, **"Like your droopy ass ears."**

There was a pause.

 _ **"** **What."**_

He snickered, reaching over and messing with my ears, **"Your ears. They're drooping. It's actually kinda cute."** He made a mock pouty face as he reached up to his own ears and pulled them down, **"I'm** Will-ee **, I look grumpy all the time. I mock innocent inklings for eating pancakes and fearing for their lives. I also wanna marry my pants."**

 **"That's real mature of you."** I deadpanned, but was actually kinda amused.

 **"** _ **That's weal matwure of youw."**_ Tenta mocked with a large grin, visibly trying his hardest not to bust out laughing.

I snorted, playfully shoving Tenta off the bed. He yelped as he fell over the side of the bed, hitting the ground with a loud thump. Moments later I could hear him start laughing, and saw him stand back up and preparing to jump back onto the bed.

" **So what's the diet of an inkling?"** I inquired curiously.

Tenta laid down on the bed, facing upwards toward the ceiling. **"We're omnivores, but our main diet is fish, fish, and more fish."**

 **"What kind of fish?"**

He exhaled through his nose and rubbed his eyes, **"I dunno, fish. We eat the unevolved fish, the ones that don't talk 'n shit. It's really good cooked, but I'm one of the few inklings who prefer some fish raw."**

 **"...R...Raw?"**

Tenta glanced up at me with a confused expression, **"Do you guys not eat raw fish?"**

I waved my hand in a so-so motion, **"We do, but we have to clean it up first and stuff so we can eat it. We evolved over time to not be able to eat raw shit anymore. Now we usually just cook it."**

" **That's lame. I love to eat raw fish."** An odd, greedy smile spread on his face, **"I love it when I tear the skin off and it comes off clean. The red blood and flesh of the fish is soooo** _ **gooood.**_ **Sometimes I can't wait to separate the bones and just eat it whole."**

I stared at him, **"What the fuck."**

He got defensive again, **"Raw fish is delicious! You gotta try it man, it's amazing."**

 **"Pass."**

A quick silence passed over us.

Tenta scooted a little closer to me, taking my hands into his hands with a stern look on his face. **"You guys...You guys have algae flavored ice cream, right?"**

 **"A-Algae-flavored ice cream? Excuse me?"** I turned my head to the side and gave him a bit of a repulsed look, trying to back away.

 **"Do you have it? Please say yes, it's my favorite flavor."**

 **"Can't say we do…?"** I said hesitantly.

Tenta at that moment looked incredibly heartbroken, that ice cream flavor not existing seemed to be almost as equal as a girl cheating on him.

He reached his arms up and grabbed my shoulders, starting to shake me, **"ALGAE FLAVORED ICE CREAM IS SO FUCKING GOOD!"**

 **"You're being dramati-"**

 **"Why don't your people make algae ice cream? What the fuck, shortcake?"**

"Tenta, **algae is just a pla-"**

 **"That ice cream flavor is the only flavor I like! I try to stay away from sugary shit but I CAN'T go without that ice cream at least once a month."**

 **"So you're saying you're almost out of time? What kept you for getting it for so goddamn long?"**

 **"I was captured! What was I supposed to do?!"**

It was at that moment that Alyssa opened the door to my room. Without knocking. She just waltzed right in here without a care. Just thought I'd clarify to emphasize how terrible of a sister she was. The door even banged into the wall because she decided to open it that fast.

She looked into my room for a second before her brown eyes landed on me and Tenta, "...Sup."

I wasn't very impressed, "Hola." At least I could speak Spanish...though that's not really an improvement, honestly.

Tenta saw my bitter expression and chose to give Alyssa a better welcome than she deserved despite their whole 'feud' going on, completed with a small hand wave and everything, "Hello!"

My sister gave him a look, then stepped inside my room (unwanted) and sat on my bed (without permission). She looked around once more, giving a small side comment about my room (it radiates my personality, thank you very much), before shrugging and looking back at the two of us.

"So...watcha doin?"

 **"Oh, you know...Just talking to my squid friend, while being an inkling myself. We were comparing dick sizes, and your head's shaped like a peanut. Just two weeks ago I saw a demon walking behind you, but it's a tiny little gremlin creature and it's pretty ugly. The door probably lost some of its paint due to you slamming it, I saw the waiter spit in your drink the last time we went out but I didn't say anything, and one of your friends is a backstabbing bitch because I saw one of her posts about you online two hours ago and you lost your phone in the couch so you don't know yet.** "

By the time I was done, Tenta was giggling rapidly and was covering his mouth with his hands, while Alyssa rolled her eyes and lazily waved a hand.

"Sorry I asked."

I'm very glad she didn't get a word of that.

 **"You** _ **are**_ **gonna tell her about her ex-friend when you can, right?"** Tenta asked, hints of amusement still in his voice.

I shrugged, **"That is, if she hasn't found out by the time I can speak** English **again. If she finds out before then, I get to tell her 'I told you so' and not be decked in the face for once."**

Tenta tapped a finger to his chin and stuck out his tongue, glaring down at the ground in concentration, **"Maybe you can speak it, but just don't know how? I mean, it'd be weird for you to suddenly not be able to speak it at all."**

I unknowingly did the same, resulting in us both looking pretty stupid, " **...Possibly. I can try speaking** English **, but I don't know if it'll come out right. What if I got an accent or something? What does an Inktonian accent even sound like?"**

"You both look stupid." Alyssa decided to comment, still trespassing in my room.

 **"Says you."** I replied with a poker face, **"Why are you still in my room? Get out."**

"What?"

 **"Get out."**

"Whaaaat?"

I pointed towards the door, **"Get out."**

My sister stared at the door for a moment and then looked back at me, "Nahhh."

Tenta raised a hand, **"Have you tried telling her to get out?"**

 **"I hate you."**

Alyssa looked between the two of us, her eyes constantly looking at both me and Tenta. She was studying us for...something. It was hard to tell, especially with my sister. She was a lot smarter than she let on, and usually very observant too.

"Y'know, you and Tenta look exactly alike."

W... _What?_

 **"No we don't!"** I replied, a bit of a miffed tone to my voice, **"We look nothing alike!"**

 **"Did she say we looked the same or something?"** Tenta asked with an equally miffed voice, **"We really don't look anything alike."**

Alyssa couldn't understand us, but she easily detected the disbelief in our voices, "You two literally look the exact same. Except for maybe like, your skin and hair color. And eye color too, I guess."

I scoffed and pointed at Tenta's nose, **"Look at his nose! It's smaller than mine!"** I pointed at mine too, to show Alyssa that she had to compare.

She glanced between our noses and shrugged, "Looks the same to me. Face it, Will, you're both practically twins. Except one of you is colored differently."

" **That could not be** _ **farther**_ **from the truth!"** I whined, **"Twins would have to look the same, and we look nothing alike! You're just blind! Get your glasses checked!"**

 **"Yeah!"** Tenta butted in, **"I'm way hotter than him!"**

 **"Yeah! He-** _ **What?"**_ I whipped around to face Tenta, **"We're both inklings, we're the** _ **furthest**_ **thing from hot."**

 **"That may be true for _you_ but-"**

 **"Oh my fucking** _ **God**_ Tenta. **We're really doing this right now, we're really doing this."**

 **"I'm just saying! I'm more attractive than you, that's all."**

 **"We're _inklings_ you shithead."**

 **"And? Inklings can be hot."**

 **"No, we can't! We're literally the opposite of hot! What the fuck are you ta-"**

Our delightful discussion grew more heated as more and more bullshit poured out of our mouths. At a certain point I barely even understood what I was even talking about as we kept getting louder in whatever the hell kind of dispute we were having. Potato chips were mentioned at some point and I'm not sure why.

"You guys are bickering like an old married couple and you've only been able to talk to each other for like, three days." Alyssa eventually interrupted, now lazily lounging on my bed with a bored gaze. "This is a record for how fast you've made a friend, Will."

 **"He's NOT my friend, I hate his guts."** I stated bitterly, earning an offended scoff from Tenta.

 **"Well, geez, glad to see you appreciate me and all I've done for you."**

 **"You've done** _ **NOTHING**_ **for me! God, you are the most** _ **sarcastic piece of shit**_ **I have ever met."**

Tenta winked, a sly grin spreading across his face. **"That sounds like something a grumpy, not hot inkling would say-"**

 **"If I knew you were this annoying as an inkling, I would've kicked you out the second you got into this house."**

I turned back to Alyssa, her presence was making me even more irritated, _**"Please**_ **get out of my room."**

She stared at me with amused eyes, not regretting trespassing in my room one bit, "I still can't understand y-"

I began wildly gesturing at the door, desperately trying to let her know that I was tired, cranky, and straight up ready to spontaneously combust if she remained in there for any longer.

Alyssa snorted, "Okay, if you can physically shove me out of your room, I'll leave. Deal?"

I had already begun shoving her out the door.

…

Trying to, anyway. Turns out inklings naturally have very, very little strength. I did my best to pull my sister off the bed and out the door, but all I could manage was small little arm tugs on my sister's arm. At a certain point, my grip slipped in the middle of me pulling her arm and I fell straight to the floor and onto my back.

After enduring the mocking laughter of my sister and Tenta, I gave a wicked smile. I had one more secret weapon that was always guaranteed to work.

I took in a deep breath.

" _...TERRELL-"_

Alyssa immediately shoved her hands over my mouth, frantically trying to keep me quiet, _"Okay okay, I'm leaving!"_

The Terrell card works every time.

As Alyssa begrudgingly trudged out the door, I got up and gave her a mockingly polite wave as she left.

"Bye-bye!" I said in a cheerful tone, shutting the door behind her and locking it to ensure that she wouldn't barge back in with a plan to keep me from using the Terrell card. Oh, hey, looks like I _can_ speak English after all.

 **"Why did your sister come into your room in the first place?"**

I slumped tiredly against the door, **"It's a power move she's trying to make. Y'know that whole thing about how certain siblings like to try and have free reign all over the house, including their older siblings' rooms? That's her, that's what she's doing."**

 **"...She's younger than you?"** Tenta asked with that large, stupid grin of his. He already knew the answer to that one.

I looked up at Tenta with a tired glare and opened up the door once again, tired of his and Alyssa's bullshit, **"You can leave too."**

 **"Where would I go?"**

I gave him a confused stare, **"I dunno, the kitchen? Get us some snacks."**

 **"What kind? Chips?"**

I yawned and rubbed my eyes, **"Yeah, sure. Get the spicy kind. Get us some soda too, while you're at it."**

 **"I don't drink so-"**

 **"Lemme rephrase that, get _me_ soda."**

Tenta whined and started shaking my shoulders once again, **"Then what do** _ **I**_ **get to drink?"**

I stared at him blankly, **"Nothing, you're staying parched forever."**

 **"Sweet."**

 **"Speaking of sweets, get us some** Poptarts **too."**

Tenta tilted his head, **"What are those?"**

 **"Tarts with frosting on top of them."**

 **"I've never had those, but I've always wanted to try one."**

I shrugged my shoulders and gestured out the door, **"Well, now's your chance. Go get 'em. They're in a blue box and a picture's on the cover."**

Tenta stared out the door for a second, and then looked back at me.

 **"...Hey,** Will **?"** He asked slowly and hesitantly, changing the mood of the entire conversation.

I exhaled through my nose and propped myself against the door, **"Yeah?"**

 **"You know that I was messing with you earlier, right?"**

I snickered and shook my head, folding my arms across my chest, **"'Course I did. I don't get bothered that easily and I knew immediately that you were trying to be a fuck."**

 **"Cool."**

 **"..."**

 **"..."**

We sat in an awkward silence.

 **"Hey,** Will **?"** Tenta asked yet again, sounding even more hesitant and unsure than the last time.

 **"Mhmm?"**

 **"...Thanks."**

I gave him an odd look, **"...You're not going passive aggressive on me, are y-"**

 **"Nononono!"** He rapidly shook his head, then awkwardly shoved his hands in the pockets of his shorts.

 **"I jus-I just wanted to say thanks, for not genuinely getting upset with me."**

I wanted to ask what he meant in particular, but at the same time I really just wanted some snacks, so I tried to just move the convo along.

 **"No problem…?"**

 **"I mean it,** Will **."** He insisted.

I shrugged, **"I get that, but I'm not entirely sure by what in particular you 'mean'."**

There was a quick pause as Tenta struggled to get his thoughts together, **"I...I mean that...despite me freaking out on the first day and hurting you all, you're still treating me like a guest in the house and didn't kick me out. I'm...I'm really thankful for that."**

I...didn't really know what to feel about that.

 **"Well, we're the type of people to forgive and forget, y'know? Sure, you bit my brother, spat on my sister, and kicked me in the nuts, but we're all willing (more or less) to put that aside and forgive you since you were, y'know…"** I shrugged my shoulders and gave a forgiving smile, **"You were scared."**

Tenta looked off to the side, seemingly deep in thought, before looking back to me with a thankful glimmer in his eyes, **"You're a cool dude,** Will **. Thanks for being by my side and putting up with my bullshit."**

I smiled, **"It's no prob. Really. I think you're a cool dude too."**

I then pointed outside the door and into the hallway, **"Now go get those snacks, I'm fucking starving."**

Tenta briefly stared out into the hallway once more, then glanced at me with a mischievous glint in his eye. Without warning, he ran towards me, grabbed my wrist, and tugged me out of the room with him, laughing the whole time with extreme delight.

I'd say that I was unamused and not laughing at all with him but...I was.


	10. no algae? get mint!

Languages are stupid, just putting that out there.

I'm not bilingual, I'm the farthest from bilingual. I've read up on the experiences of bilingual people and what I'm going through doesn't match up _at all._ English and Inktonian both sound the same to me, but according to the native speakers of both languages, they are _incredibly_ different.

Fun experiences include, but aren't limited to: Tenta saying something to me in Inktonian and I accidentally responding in English, and Alyssa pulling my ear or doing something that annoys me and me angrily yelling at her in Inktonian. It's not fun, I'm telling you.

I can barely tell if what I'm saying is English or gurgle mcgurgly language, the only way I can tell is if I pay attention to how my mouth moves as I speak. When I would say something in Inktonian, I basically would just say what I'd say in English, but the words that came out were _different_ , in a language I _maaaagically_ knew after zero days of studying it.

Don't get me started on how I understand Tenta. When he would speak, I would know that he's speaking a different language, but I'd register it as if it were my native language. Some things he would say don't translate well into English, so I've been giving the best translations possible (some things are best left untranslated, however).

Alyssa told me that my voice had changed too. She said that my pitch and tone sounded a little higher and now when I spoke in English I apparently sounded like I was "gurgling gross ass ginger ale" in the back of my throat. And when I was speaking in Inktonian she said it was "a nightmare of your voice being drowned." The funny thing about all of that is that I hadn't even noticed the gurgle in my voice at all until she said so.

Being an inkling is confusing as hell. Don't try this at home, kids.

Speaking of being an inkling, Tenta wanted to show me how to do inkling shit. And Alyssa was watching the two of us by the side in the living room. Honestly, what could _possibly_ go wrong?

 **"So, how did you do that thing where you spit out ink?"** I started us off, looking at Tenta curiously.

 **"Spit out in- Oh! You mean this?"** He asked, before his cheeks swelled up and pink ink flew out of his mouth and splatted onto my face. I screeched and frantically wiped the ink off, luckily not getting it in my mouth this time. Weirdly enough... it kinda stung. I could hear Alyssa already laughing at my misfortune.

 **"Yes! That's what I fucking meant, you didn't need to spit in my face!"** I growled, though he ignored my pissed expression and had a wide smile on his face.

 **"I felt like it, you looked like you needed a cool-off."**

 **"It was** _ **warm."**_

Tenta gave me a dismissive shrug, **"Okay yeah, true. But why do you want to learn how to spit? Don't you think turning into a squid would be more fun?"**

 **"I can barely walk as it is, turning into a squid would be like training to be an acrobat. Plus, remember when you turned into a squid to hide from behind a potted plant and your clothes came off when you tried to scare me? I'd rather not end up naked in front of my sister too, thank you very much."**

The pink inkling sighed, **"Right...your clothes aren't made of ink, so it doesn't transform with us when we turn into squids. Sorry about that, by the way** _ **.**_ **"**

 **"The image is burned in my mind forever."**

 **"I do have a cute ass though, right?"**

 **"..."**

Tenta coughed to hide his laughter, amused at my heavily unamused face, **"I was kidding! Anyway, spitting ink isn't all that hard, just...wish for the ink to come into your mouth and then spit? I think that's pretty much how it works, but I've been an inkling all my life."**

 **"Okay, I think I sorta understand."** I began focusing on my mouth, trying my hardest to get ink to swell up in my cheeks. I felt _something_ that was unfamiliar, which rang an alarm in my head. I smirked and went to spit on Tenta, he was gonna get it. After being spat on, I was going to get my revenge. He was going to get it.

He didn't get it. Purple ink dribbled down my chin and onto the floor, and soon Tenta and Alyssa were on the ground cackling at my misfortune. I stared with a dumbfounded expression at the ink dripping on the floor from my chin. Of course I wasn't going to get it right on my first try. I tried to say something but the ink in my mouth made what I was going to say rather gurgly, so I kept shut.

 **"I f-forgot-** " Tenta started in between his laugher, " **I forgot t-t-to tell you that you gotta b-build pressure! Otherwise it won't shoot out correctly! You literally just let ink collect in your mouth like a drooling baby!** "

I clenched my wrists in annoyance before a sly smile grew on my face. I let the ink build up in my mouth once more and slowly stepped over to the still laughing Tenta. With a grin, I promptly let the ink on my mouth drip all over Tenta, proudly watching the inkling freeze and look up at me with wide eyes.

 **"...EW."** Congratulations! Payback is a bitch.

I grinned a wicked smile, the three pointy teeth in my mouth most likely shining in Tenta's big eyes. He slowly wiped off the ink on his form and flicked it on to me, which made me flinch.

"God, you two are the grossest beings on this planet **,** " Alyssa said off to the side, back on her phone and scrolling through social media.

I pointed at Tenta, "Nah, he's the grosser one. Don't forget, he refused to wash his hands for who knows how long because there was no diluted ink in the water. That was _before_ we got him to shower."

 **"You're talking about the hand washing thing, aren't you? I wasn't used to it! Inklings hate water, just to remind you! Plus, I put my hands in the water for five seconds, I'm not a barbarian!** _ **"**_

 **"It's still gross! You're supposed to wash your hands for twenty seconds, not five! You're lucky none of us got sick with your gross inkling diseases!"**

Tenta looked offended _,_ _ **"**_ **I don't have any diseases! I got all of my shots! I am a healthy inkling, one hundred percent pure apple that's ready to bite with no bruises!** _ **"**_

 **"Yeah, an apple covered with dirt that has shit mixed into it.** _ **"**_

Tenta grumpily shoved his hands into his pockets, his cheeks noticeably pink, **"Can we just not talk about it? I'm a changed inkling, okay?"**

 _B_ efore I could reply, the knob on the front door rattled and Terrell entered (when did he leave…?). In his arms he was holding a baby car seat, some food, and an umbrella. Tenta chirped a small greeting in English and Alyssa quickly darted over to Terrell, the smell of food taking over her brain already. Any sort of fast food made her a zombie pig.

Apparently it was dark and raining outside, as he was wearing a large raincoat and was shaking the umbrella to rid it of its water. Balanced in his arms was the food and drinks, fast food from a greasy restaurant with drinks that miraculously haven't spilled, plus a baby bag I hadn't noticed before. His time as a waiter has definitely come in handy, I most likely would've spilled those drinks if I were holding an umbrella, a car seat, and a bag in my hands all at once. An orange blanket covered the seat he held, small babbling noises coming from it. Wonderful.

"I'm home! I've got to take care of my friend's daughter for a little while since she's busy clearing something up at work. I got food too, I'm honestly just not in the cooking mood tonight, sorry you three." Terrell announced his arrival, then set the car seat and umbrella by the door, strolling to the kitchen and trusting that we'd watch over whoever was in the seat.

Tenta peered down at the car seat, wondering what was in there. "Little human?" He asked me and Alyssa, pointing at the wiggling blanket covering the car seat. The blanket was quickly pulled down to reveal a spitting little infant underneath it, the girl looking around with wide brown eyes, focusing them on Tenta once she realized he was in the room. She was wearing an orange raincoat and an orange rainhat, which was hiding her hair that was tied up on the top of her head. Her choco-brown cheeks were very chubby and moved as she babbled, slobber leaving her mouth and falling onto her lap.

"That's a baby, Tenta. Baaaaby." I explained to the pink inkling, pointing at the little girl in the car seat.

"Baaaaby." He copied, sounding out the word slowly to himself. He pointed to the girl, "Name, baby?"

I quickly shook my head, "No, no! Her name is um…"

"Nia!" I heard Terrell call from the kitchen.

"Her name is Nia. She is a baby. A 'little human'," I told Tenta, gaining a small nod in reply.

 **"Is that what the babies of humans look like? They look so strange, yet...** _ **kinda**_ **adorable?"**

 **"It's okay, every human looks like shit as an infant. You should see them when they first come out. They're very ugly. They're all wrinkly and gross and they smell. I should know, my sister was like that when I first met her. Not a great first impression."**

Tenta snorted and then dissolved into giggles, **"You should see our infants, they look so gross when they first hatch. When they grow up they have this certain 'look' to them, other species like to call it 'adorably ugly.' I honestly can't say they're wrong."**

 **"Did you look adorably ugly when you were growing up? I can't picture you being adorably ugly."**

Tenta scoffed, **"I was more ugly than adorable if anything. Remind me to never show you my baby pictures, I looked like...like a wet and transparent flesh sock dyed pink."**

 **"A-A wet and transparent flesh sock dyed pink? Thanks for putting that image in my head,** Tenta _,_ **I really needed that."**

"I'd hate to interrupt this lovely conversation," Alyssa oh-so-rudely interrupted with food in her mouth, "But could one of you take the baby out of her seat? She's starting to fuss."

I shrugged, "I'm weak enough as it is, why can't you do it yourself?"

My sister gave me a dirty look, "You could just instruct Tenta to do it, I'm busy eating this delicious food that your incompetent hands would probably drop before it's even an inch from your mouth."

I rolled my eyes, "Y'don't gotta be so mean about it, and you wonder why I never liked you since you left that bad first impression on me."

"What bad first impression?"

"Inside joke." I said with a large grin.

Alyssa threw her free hand up in exasperation and went to release the baby from her seat, "Okay, screw you and your inside jokes. It's only been a couple of days since you've become an inkling and you're already making inside jokes with Tenta. The worst thing about it is that I have no way to understand them, knowing that you won't tell me and Tenta's understanding of English is the same as this little gremlin right here."

She bent down and placed her bag of food on the floor, removing Nia from the car seat just as Terrell walked back out of the kitchen, raincoat gone and arms free of food. In their place was a red turtleneck and blue jeans, a basic look for a rather basic brother.

"Food's in the kitchen! Grab your stuff when you want, I labeled the bags and drinks so you all know what is for who." He announced, walking over and grabbing a drooling Nia from Alyssa's arms, "I'll take this little slobber-mouth and feed her in my room, just walk in if you need something."

After watching him leave, I turned to the kitchen, **"Okay, I'm starving. I'm so hungry, I could eat an** octorok **."**

 **"...What's an** octorok? **Sounds like the** English **word for octopus."**

 **"Remind me to teach you about the video games in this world,"** I said, making my way to the kitchen with Tenta, hands clasped together since I couldn't walk properly yet. I looked to the staircase and saw Alyssa heading up the stairs, a burger shoved into her mouth as she ran up. Greedy.

 **"You guys have video games?! Why haven't you told me? I'd play games all the time back at home. After my daily battles, of course."**

We arrived in the kitchen and spotted the bags of food and drinks on the counter. The smell wasn't entirely appealing to me, but I didn't hate fast food either. I just didn't eat it often.

 **"Daily battles?"** I asked as I slowly stepped up to the bags of food. One of the bags had my name on it written in sharpie, and the other bag that was left had a small picture of a squid. Terrell must've remembered that Tenta couldn't read so he went with the next best option. A cute little squid icon, but purposely done to not resemble the official Splatoon style in any way. We didn't want to tell Tenta the truth just yet.

Tenta nodded enthusiastically, **"Yes! They're a pain in the ass sometimes if you go into ranked, but fun! I myself don't go into regular turf wars that often, ranked battles are way more active and satisfying. Plus, I'm the highest rank possible, so you should treat me like I'm royalty."**

 **"I'll treat you like you're royalty when you have a trillion bucks and have bought me food with each and every single one of them while wearing a crown."** I then handed Tenta his bag of food, **"Here's your stuff. Look, Terrell labeled it for you."**

Tenta rolled his eyes and then scrunched up his nose, **"Ew, is this greasy restaurant food? I don't eat this stuff much,** _"_ He then spotted the little squid on the bag, **"Oh! Is that a squid? It's so tiny and weird looking."**

I pulled a couple of fries out of the bag, **"Yeah, this is all that** Terrell **can give us tonight. You've gotten his cooking and leftovers for what… two to three weeks by now? You can handle junk food for a night. And yeah, that's a squid,** Terrell **knows you can't read so he drew a little picture for you."**

The pink inkling made a face as he took out a couple of fries from his bag, **"Eugh, it's still gross. I just don't like this stuff, plus it's not healthy for me. I eat the healthy stuff more often, gotta keep up that battle bod, y'know? You should teach me how to read sometime, too. I imagine it's really complicated, since speaking** English **is hard enough already."**

Heading out the kitchen and toward the stairs, I huffed, **"Well, if you don't want your food so much, you can just give it to me. But sure, I can teach you our alphabet to help you read in our language. Sadly, that means I won't be able to insult you while typing on my laptop to my friends anymore since you're always over my shoulder."**

Tenta rushed past me and ran up the stairs, mouth full of fries, **"I take back everything I ever said about this stuff, grease is good for your health!"**

Glancing at Tenta as he dashed up the stairs, I could tell that he forgot his drink back at the kitchen. Tilting my head back and groaning, I reluctantly managed to walk back to the kitchen and take Tenta's drink from the counter without tripping. I cocked my head to the side as I stared at the drink, wondering what flavor soda Terrell got him. The little squid drawing on the side was mocking me, it knew I was curious and was luring me to drink it, to try it. _Driiiiink it,_ it would say. _Driiiiiiiink it._ Of course I will, little squid drawing.

I took a sip. Apple juice. Terrell got Tenta apple juice. I supposed that makes sense, Tenta likes healthy shit and while apple juice isn't the _healthiest_ , it's better than cheap cola. Props to my brother for being considerate of Tenta and his health. I guess.

I flipped the straw in Tenta's drink upside down and walked back to the stairs. Not the best action to make up for my gross saliva being on his straw but I don't have many other options. He lived through his sickness so he'll live through my gross saliva, right? Right. I think. God, I hope I don't accidentally kill him by doing this.

I trudged into my room and spotted Tenta on the bed, watching TV. He had his burger shoved in his mouth and ketchup on his face. I wasn't unnerved by this, since by now I knew that he was a messy eater. Too messy, actually. Worse than Alyssa.

 **"You've got shit on your face."** I told him as I walked in. He glanced at me for a second before searching in his bag for a napkin.

 **"Where? Is it on my cheeks?"** He asked after gulping his burger down whole, bag crinkling from him rummaging through it.

I stared at him with wide eyes before shrugging and taking a napkin out of my own bag, shoving it in the face of Tenta and harshly rubbing off the ketchup, **"It was riiiiight there."**

The other inkling sputtered for a moment when the napkin was in his face and fell off the bed in surprise. **"You could've been gentler!"** He screeched in anger, cheeks flushed pink. I smirked at his expression and held out his drink.

 **"You forgot this."**

He grumpily snatched it from my hand and took a sip. His eyebrows went up in surprise as soon as he tasted it and he looked straight at me.

 **"...Apple juice?"**

 **"Uh-huh."**

 **"I love apple juice! I don't drink it much, but it's my childhood favorite. It tastes so gooood.** " He chirped, happily slurping the juice from the cup. I blinked, not expecting that reply. Then I shrugged, better than him saying he preferred grape juice. Or worse, _orange juice_.

I hopped onto the bed and gazed at the TV, realizing it was displaying an old cartoon. What was that guy's name again? Popeye? I watched him as a kid a lot, he was the shit I'd look forward to when I turned on the TV. The show never motivated me to eat my greens like it probably did with other kids, but I loved the show anyway.

 **"So, what's this guy's deal?"** Tenta asked, pointing to Popeye, **"Why does he have tattoos of anchors?"**

I wolfed down my burger like a savage, **"He eats his greens, saves his girl, and kicks the asses of his enemies. The end."**

Tenta looked at me with disgust and set down his apple juice. Or what was left of it, anyway. The dude drinks fast. **"And you say I'm the messy eater."**

 **"You are."**

He pointed at my face and frowned, **"There's stuff all over your face."**

I rolled my eyes, **"Let them stay, it's gonna be a face party. You're not invited."**

Tenta took a napkin out of my bag and furiously wiped it against my face with a wide grin, **"Party's over, everyone go home."**

I whined and snatched the napkin from Tenta, **"But the celebration's only just begun!"**

 **"Celebration for what?"**

" **Your death!"** I screeched, lunging at the pink inkling. He yelped and faced my wrath, the both of us collapsing to the floor and cackling. **"That's what happens when you disrupt a face party!"**

 **"Face parties are overrated!"**

 **"You've never even been to one!"**

 **"That's because you've never invited me!"**

 **"Because you insulted the greatness that _is_ face parties!"**

We both sat there for a moment, catching our breaths with large grins on our faces. After a moment, I moved off of Tenta and flopped to the floor, feeling slightly tired.

 **"...What do we do now?"** I asked, not ready to turn in for the night.

Tenta hummed and looked up at the ceiling in thought. Then he sat up, twiddling his thumbs in an almost nervous fashion.

 **"...Can we go see the human baby?"** He asked a little quietly.

I gave him a strange look, **"...Why?"**

He huffed through his nose and gave me a side eye, **"I've never seen one before! You guys look so similar to inklings and yet your babies aren't slimy little monsters. I wanna see the baby and what it does a little more."**

I rolled my eyes and slowly stood up, **"I mean, all babies are slimy little monsters regardless of species, but we can go see** Nia **if you want."**

Instead of saying words like a normal person back to me, Tenta let out a small chirp in reply and started heading out my bedroom door. I had given him an incredulous look and he simply shrugged in reply. What a great explanation.

I'll save you from the explanation of the trip of going to Terrell's room since that was boring. Well, no, but rather just to hide my shame. Long story short, I fell down the stairs and Tenta laughed. The worst thing about it was that inkling laughter is the most mocking laughter I've ever heard, which made the experience a million times more embarrassing.

Arriving to Terrell's room, we both poked our heads in and saw my older brother going on his laptop with Nia next to him chewing on a toy. He briefly looked up from his laptop at the two of us and waved before glancing back down at the screen. I totally bet he's playing candy crush.

Without saying anything, Tenta let himself into the room and walked up to the side of the bed Nia was on, examining her closely with an excited expression. Nia did the same, looking at his tied up tentacles and beak. Then she made a small gurgling noise and offered the toy she was chewing on to him, slobber covering it from top to bottom.

Tenta glanced back at me with a bewildered look and I mouthed 'take it' to him. Then he sent me a look of disgust and switched his gaze back at the baby, hesitantly reaching out to grab the saliva-covered toy.

Then Nia shoved the toy back into her mouth right as he was about to grab it, looking up at his shocked face and giggling. See? I told you, babies are slimy little monsters no matter what species they are.

Growing tired of standing, I moved from the door myself and hopped up on the bed on Terrell's side, snuggling myself close to him. That may sound weird to you but he has this weird-ass aura of protection around him that's been around since he's raised us and I still fucking like it. Big brothers that raise their shit siblings need more credit.

"Watcha doin'...?" I mumble, lazily observing the screen on his laptop. I knew it, he was doing fucking facebook's candy crush. Old people itis is already getting to him and he's what- twenty five?

 **"Little miss gummy jaws over here has no teeth! None! How the hell…?"** I heard Tenta exclaim, and saw him peering into Nia's slightly open mouth.

I rolled my eyes and slumped against Terrell a little more, **"That's how humans work,** Tenta **."**

 **"B-But like,"** He stuttered, **"how did you guys even survive in the wild before you built technology 'n shit? Your babies look so fragile and they can't even** _ **eat**_ **right."**

I sent Tenta an exasperated look and heard Terrell chuckle at our conversation. Sure, he couldn't understand us, but he could hear the tones just fine and I bet to an outsider this conversation would've been completely stupid.

 **"** _ **We...We breastfeed them,**_ _Tenta_ _ **.**_ **"**

 **"** _ **...What?"**_ Oh. My. _GOD._

I pressed my hands to my face and exhaled rather roughly, earning another chuckle from Terrell. Glad you find this funny, old man….I hope he never reads this.

 **"Y'know? The...original way mammals were meant to feed their children?"**

 **"Uhhhhhh…."** Tenta looked completely baffled. **"Doesn't sound familiar to me."**

 **"Have you** _ **ever**_ **paid attention to your science classes? Don't they educate you on different animals?"**

Tenta smiled sheepishly, **"I used to sleep during those lessons and bomb the tests later."**

I was miffed, **"Science is the most interesting subject, you bastard! It teaches you all sorts of cool things that happens in your body!"**

Tenta frowned, **"Writing the different chemicals in DNA is hardly what I'd call 'cool' and 'interesting'."**

 **"Every class has its bad sides but the good overrules in science!"**

 **"Science is for nerds!"**

 _ **"** **You're a nerd!"**_ I screeched, then immediately felt a hand on the back of my head shove my face into a pillow. Too loud, got it.

I heard Tenta laugh at me but his cackling was cut short with a yelp and a 'FWIP'. Terrell must've gotten him too. One good thing about my older brother was that he was fair with his punishments. But if he were to play favorites then it'd be obvious that he'd go easy on me.

Keeping my head shoved in the pillow, I slowly felt myself be lulled to sleep by the cool air around me and the low hum of the laptop in Terrell's lap. I heard Tenta yawn somewhere in the background, and the bed shifted, which was most likely his doing.

"Guess I have to look after three sleepy babies," I heard Terrell mumble under his breath, amused at the two of us joining him and immediately starting to pass out on his bed. I would've said something in reply but I was really out of it. The pillow was soft and the blankets were soft and I think Terrell moved a part of the sheets over my body when I was dozing a little. Being adorable really had its perks.

I'm certain we were like that for a little while, Terrell tapping away at his laptop as the three of us 'babies' dozed on his bed. Nia's babbles turned into quiet little snores and Terrell's occasional mumbling and the hum of his laptop turned into calming background noise. This was the goals of many people's friday nights, I'm certain. Chilling on a king sized bed with a squid, a kid, and a not so kid.

...

I furrowed my brows and whined as gentle hand shook me awake. Something woke me from my slumber and I felt completely _pissed_. Giving my attacker the evil eye, I yawned and slowly sat up, rubbing my eyes.

"How long've we been out?" I mumbled and looked around the room. No lava pouring in and no water either, whatever I've been awoken for is a waste of time. I spotted Alyssa in the doorway with a rather urgent expression. What's her deal?

"Two hours," Terrell said while slowly shaking Tenta wake as well. He looked up at Alyssa in the doorway and mouthed something to her before turning back to me.

"Nia's mom arrived and is currently in the living room, you guys can't go back to your room since she'll see you on the way to the stairs so I'll need you both to hide under the bed."

"...Why?" I asked with sleepy confusion.

Terrell chuckled, "Your hair's slimy and your ears are pointy, I think that's explanation enough."

...Right.

I shuffled off the bed and slowly stepped over to Tenta's side, the inkling himself still struggling to stay awake. Struggling was an understatement, actually. He was swaying and his head was nodding as he used the little energy he had to keep himself upright, though I was sure he would tumble like a lumberjack's tree within the next few seconds.

Relaying the info to Tenta, we both crawled under the bed and waited for Nia's mom to come in. Apparently the reason why she was coming in was so that she could talk with Terrell about some work stuff and 'flirt' with him, even though we all knew it'd never get anywhere with him. My brother never was the type for romance and this woman straight up could never take a hint.

As she was in the room chatting with Terrell, Tenta and I contemplated falling back asleep but decided against it. Supposedly I snore like a bear, but on one hand Alyssa was really the only one to say that but on another...I don't want to take any chances. Nia's mom would probably shriek and collapse in a faint if she saw the two of us.

The discussion of Terrell taking care of her child and boring work stuff quickly changed from that to vacationing, and it was at that moment Tenta and I quietly came to a mutual understanding that we'd both be under here for quite a while.

For the first ten minutes we managed to keep ourselves busy with our thoughts, but by the fifteen minute mark we both started growing restless. I resisted the urge to make noise via patting the carpet floor or clicking my tongue, while Tenta constantly shifted around and looked uncomfortable.

At this time, the topic the two adults were having was something about cars and mechanics and it was boring the two of us to death and we _really just wanted to leave_.

By the thirty minute mark we were both growing more restless and more bitter. I sighed as quietly as I could as I heard Tenta fidget for the umpteeth time. Feeling sour, I turned my head to him and in the quietest voice possible-

 _ **"** ** _W_ hy the hell are you shifting so much."**_ I didn't add a question mark because that was how tired of his shit I was. It was hot, cramped, and I could smell Tenta's breath and I Did Not Like It.

Tenta kept silent for a moment, face shoved right into the carpet floor. Then he looked up at me with a rather troubled face and shifted for the fucking thousandth time.

 _ **"** ** _I really_ gotta use the fucking bathroom."**_

GREAT.

I slowly put a hand to my face and pulled it down as Tenta awkwardly looked off to the side, **"Please don't tell me inklings have outrageously small bladders."**

Tenta's face flushed pink and he didn't say anything. GOD. FUCKING. _DAMNIT._

"Tenta, **I swear to god. If you piss in this tiny ass little space where we are breathing each other's gross-ass stinky breath, I will murder you."**

It was clear that the tension between us was growing higher, and I was sure that Tenta was going to fucking piss all over the carpet if we didn't get out here soon. I don't care how cute Nia is, her mother is a bitch that needs to leave and I want her GONE.

At last, after twenty more minutes, her footsteps went out the bedroom door and I saw Terrell bend down to look under the bed.

"I'll get back to you guys once the coast is clear, how are you holding up?"

"Does having a desperate need to piss count as 'just dandy' 'cuz Tenta's about to unleash a flood," I hissed.

My older brother stayed silent for a moment, then in a slightly more stressed voice, asked-

"How bad does he have to go?"

Asking the same question to Tenta….

 **"72."**

Sighing, I relayed the info back to Terrell.

"He has to piss so bad that he gave me a number when I literally asked him the exact same question."

Terrell exhaled and closed his eyes in silent acceptance, "Tell him to wait as much as he can, but if he ends up going then there's no need to stress over it."

As a good translator, I relayed the information as best as I could.

 **"You're going to fucking piss yourself but** Terrell **'s gonna buy you ice cream since it's his fault he didn't wake us in time and he'll feel bad."**

 **"THAT'S FUCKING DANDY."** Tenta shrieked, not giving a shit about volume since the woman wasn't in the room anymore.

We both sat there in very tense silence.

 **"...Applejuice goes right through you, doesn't it? That's why you don't drink it often, isn't it?"**

 **"I want to die."**

Jokes on me for expecting an intelligent answer in a crisis like this.

After five more excruciating minutes, Terrell came back in and calmly announced, "The coast is clear!"

Tenta, not able to understand a word he said, darted out from under the bed anyway and raced down the hall. That's what I'm assuming, anyway, as all I heard were rapid footsteps and the sound someone makes when they're dying inside but coming from his mouth.

Crawling out from that claustrophobic's-worst-nightmare area, I stretched and slowly walked out the room, but briefly turned back to Terrell right before I went out the door.

"I hope you know that Tenta's down the hall, right outside the bathroom, currently pissing himself 'cuz he has the bladder of a peanut and that we'll need a shit ton of towels to clean it up and a shit ton of tissues to clean up his gross, snotty face since his pride was shattered."

Terrell sighed and rubbed his neck in a Stressed Adult manner, "Yeah, I know. I'll buy him some ice cream while I'm at the store tomorrow. What's his favorite flavor?"

"Algae."

"...Mint it is." Good enough.

Taking a moment before I went out the door, I thought about how bad the tension was gonna be after the craziness went away.

…

Update. I can predict the future. And it's shitty.

Tenta and I sat on my bed watching TV, though I could feel the tension in the air. We were in loose-fitting pajamas and while comfortable, were also uncomfortable.

I mean, what do you say to a friend after they piss themselves in your hallway and your older brother has to clean up after them again?

The answer is nothing. Tenta feels like shit as it is and I shouldn't say anything.

It was currently an hour after that whole ordeal happened and though my brother tried to apologize, Tenta completely shut into himself and refused to say a word to anyone. It's really awkward, especially when you'd try to start up a conversation and get absolutely nothing in reply.

Yawning, I pressed a couple buttons on the remote and turned off the TV, setting the rectangular device on my nightstand and flopping back onto my bed.

 **"Alright, I'm ready to go out for the night, it's like 2 am and I'm exhausted."**

No response from Tenta.

 **"..."**

 **"..."**

 **"..."**

 **"..."**

Okay, this was getting ridiculous.

I sighed, **"Look,** Tenta, **don't worry about what happened earlier. It was beyond your control and none of us blame you for it."**

Still no response.

"...Tenta-"

"Will, **I'm really, really sorry for vomiting and pissing in your hallway."**

I didn't know whether to snort in laughter or accept his apology, but judging by the "im about to cry" hoarseness in his voice, I went with neither.

 **"I-I just...I haven't been the easiest guest to take care of for you and your family and I'm really fuck- really f-f- _fuck! Fuck!_ "**

 **"Dude-** Tenta, **hey,** **it's** _ **okay-**_ **"**

 **"It's not fucking okay!** " Tenta hiccuped, small tears pricking in the corners of his eyes. He was getting worked up over something that wasn't his fault.

He continued, getting more and more upset by the second, **"I fucking just...came out of nowhere and fucked up everything. I somehow turned you into an inkling, and now you can't fucking go outside-"**

"Tenta, **seriously, it's fine-** "

 **"-and you guys gotta fucking feed me and put up with my shit and what'd I do? I fucking vomited on your floor and pissed on it too, real fucking appreciative of me-"**

"Tenta, _**please-**_ **"**

 **"-I mean what kind of fucking guest am I? When those fucking octos shot me I should've fucking died instead of being sent here, I've done nothing but fuck up my whole goddamn life anyway so why would it even matter-"**

" _Tenta, for the love of God would you STOP._ " I hissed in English. Despite the fact that he couldn't understand English, he instantly grew silent and looked down at the mattress.

The air in this room had so much tension I'm surprised we didn't drown.

Pinching the bridge of my nose and looking up at Tenta, I could tell that he was trying so hard to keep from breaking down right then and there. His face was so pink, way pinker than I've ever seen him before, and his hands had moved to cover his eyes. His lips were pressed into the straightest line possible, though it was easy to tell it was straining. This dude was a mess.

Grabbing Tenta's wrists, I moved his hands away from his face and did my best to look him in the eye. It was challenging, he kept looking away until I sighed in exasperation at his behavior. He could tell I was growing irritated.

 **"** Tenta, **look. I'm no therapist or anything, but it's clear you're frustrated over something much more than pissing yourself. Instead of holding it in, I want you to tell me what's up and let it all go."**

 **"..."** He moved his gaze back to the mattress. I'd have murdered him but I was helping him, no time for blood.

 **"I'm really sorry."** He mumbled, ears becoming almost as droopy as mine.

I pulled the blankets off of his body and wrapped them around the two of us instead. This was gonna be our 'cry' fort and like losers, we're gonna cry in it if we need to.

 **"It's fine."**

It started out quiet at first, with small sniffles, but quickly Tenta managed to go from a one to a five thousand in the split of a second. Hot tears welled up in his eyes and his breath hitched as he inevitably succumbed to his emotions. He buried his face in my shoulder and stayed there as his sobs grew louder and more shaky.

 **"I'm really s...really sorry about being so terrible to your family."** He mumbled after around five minutes of nonstop crying, **"I...I didn't mean to do this to you guys an-and…"**

 **"Wasn't your fault."** I muttered bitterly while rubbing his back. " **From what I know, you came here against your will, was completely terrified of us and relied on your instincts to try and escape, and the dumb bitch that** Terrell **'s coworkers with stayed for much longer than she needed. None of this was your fault, okay?"**

 **"..."**

 **"..."**

 **"I-I...I just-..."**

 **"...What?"**

 **"Noth-Nothing. It was nothing. It's nothing."**

 **"Spit it out."**

 **"It's fucking _nothing,_ okay?"**

I forced him off my shoulder and looked him directly in his lime-colored eyes.

 _"Tenta._ "

After almost a solid ten seconds of staring at each other, Tenta broke and hid his face in his hands, turning away from me and threatening to turn into a bawling mess once more.

 _ **" _I_ really wanna fucking go home, okay? **_**I-I was already gone for...for like, two weeks. Then I showed up here and it's b...been almost a month and- a-a-aaaaand….."**

He wiped his eyes in a futile attempt to get rid of his tears, but they kept coming and falling onto the blanket like an uncontrollable flood.

 **"I haven't seen my friends in** _ **so long**_ **, I really m-mis-miss the-eem. It's fucking** _ **stupid,**_ **I know. A teenager like me turning sixteen soon shou-shouldn't be whining and crying like a fucking infant. I should just….should just suck it up and move on but it** _ **hurts.**_ **"**

After a long pause, I only said two words, **"You're stupid."**

Tenta gave me the most hurt look I've ever seen him muster. He looked like the saddest puppy you could ever see.

I rolled my eyes, way for him to take it the wrong way. **"I meant that you're stupid for thinking that. Listen, you have every right to feel like you are right now and I meant what I said when I said everything wasn't your fault."**

Tenta stayed quiet. I noticed him twisting the mattress with his fist.

I continued, **"I know you're upset with the fact that you haven't been the best guest to us, but we're all okay with that! Trust me, my brother would never just boot someone to the street because of one or two little mistakes. My sister, I'm not sure."**

The smallest of smiles appeared on his face, but was rapidly fading. I had to keep going.

 **"And look, missing your friends is fine! You've been gone for much longer than you should've, been unwillingly stuck here for a while, and not being able to even text your friends must be killing you inside. But y'know what? You'll get back. You managed to get here, so there must be a way back to your world. We just gotta find it. Crying can get rid of frustration, but it won't solve all of your problems. We'll find a way to get you home, alright?"**

Tenta stared at the mattress a little more, a few stray tears strolling down his cheeks, before moving his gaze right up to me.

 **"...When did you become the king of pep-talks?"** Of course.

A large grin spread on his face once he noticed my unimpressed expression, and he started giggling. I rolled my eyes and folded my arms as Tenta laughed at me, though I couldn't hide my growing smirk.

He eventually rubbed his face clear of his tear tracks after his fit of laughing and yawned, drowsiness suddenly rushing at him. He looked at me, then at the light switch.

 **"I'm not turning that off."**

I snorted, **"Well I ain't turning it off either."**

We both sat there for a moment.

Then, without warning, I tickled Tenta in his side and cackled as he shrieked in surprise and fell off the bed with a large thud. I stared down at him as he laid on his back and glared daggers right back up at me, one of his tentacles stuck to his cheek. After a moment, he got the energy to sit himself up and crawl back up on the bed.

He pretended to roll back his sleeves despite his pajama shirt having short sleeves, and gave me a rather malicious smile as he slowly stood up on the bed.

 **"Oh...You're gonna** _ **get**_ **it."**

Every hint of happiness and smugness immediately ran out of my body as I saw him wiggle his fingers, and I knew at that moment I was going to die and never return. Goodbye, everyone, I hope you can understand that this story may never be updated ever again.

…

So we're going to skip over the part where I died and jump to when Tenta and I are lying in bed because I love my pride _not_ shattered. Unfortunately, I was the one who had to shut off the light since I lost the...fight. We fought. We are Men. Masculinity, testosterone, balls, penis, mustaches.

I yawned as I browsed my phone in the dark and Tenta watched beside me. All I really saw were some stupid selfies, tragic news someplace, and drama between my sister and her now ex-friend. Ah, yes, social media was a beautiful place.

...Wait.

 **"Why are you sleeping in my bed, again?"**

Tenta groaned and turned the other way, **"Thunderstorm, got scared, slept in your bed, yadda yadda Ifeelsafehere, the end."**

 **"What was that last part?"**

 **"...The end."**

I rolled my eyes and turned off the phone, setting it on the nightstand next to the bed and snuggling myself into the blankets.

 **"Uh-huh. Yeah. Sure. Well, I'm glad you feel safe here, 'cuz it'd be bad for you not to be."**

 **"Shut up."**

 **"..."**

 **"..."**

 **"..."**

 **"Um...Thanks,** Will. **For putting up with me."**

 **"It's fine. Thanks for drinking a whole thing of applejuice and having to piss soon after."**

 **" _I said I was sorry for that."_**

 **"You say you're sorry for a lot of things."**

 **"Well, tonight I actually meant it."**

 **"I know I know."** I said reassuringly to him, then burrowed my face into a pillow and started making my way to dreamland.

 **"..."**

 **"..."**

 **"..."**

 **"..."**

 **"…I really need to get back home so I can get in shape again."**

 **" _Go the fuck to sleep._ "**


	11. so close but yet so far

**Suuuurprise! It's me! I have updated and no, it's not an author's note explaining that I've lost interest in this story and never wanted to continue it! Quite the opposite in fact! I'll explain more at the bottom, but for now I just wanted to say one thing.**

 **I have updated this story thoroughly and many things are different.** **That's why I encourage you all to go back and reread everything, but if you don't want to then that's perfectly fine! (You just might be a little lost and confused on some things haha)**

 **Have fun reading!**

* * *

I furrowed my brow and squinted my eyes open as the sun's harmful rays burned into my retinas. A yawn slipped from my mouth and I proceeded to sit up and contemplate why my body wouldn't let me sleep forever. Then again, my expectations shouldn't be so high since when I was five I wished to be a pterodactyl and it betrayed me back then too.

I looked to my left and found Tenta still there and still dead to the world. His entire body was sprawled out across the bed and his side of the blankets were tangled all around his legs. It was an honest miracle that I didn't feel any of his kicking during the night, knowing he must've done _something_ to get the blankets in as big of a mess as this.

I stared at him for a moment, taking my time to draw in the details since I never really sat down and studied him before. Light peeking in from the blinds laid across his face and onto his closed eyes, but that didn't seem to deter his sleeping ability at all. His cheeks were dusted lightly with pink, upping his cuteness score by at least ten percent and therefore increasing his ability to beg for food at the dinner table. His mouth was open ever so slightly, with gentle snores escaping it from time to time as his slumber continued on.

Looking at the top of his head, I immediately noticed the scattered scarring on his forehead. A large, single scar sat on the left side, slanted ever so slightly, while smaller and less noticeable scars decorated his face all around, undetectable to the naked eye unless you looked carefully.

Speaking of scars…

Tenta's made a point before on how he didn't like it when I (or people in general) looked at his more recent scars, but curiosity made me want to at least take a smaaaaall peek, just to see what they looked like.

I never realized this, but the scars among his wrists had left intents into his skin, which gave me the deep desire to run my fingers over the scarring to test how they felt. I had started doing that, but a odd snort coming from Tenta that made me nearly shit myself ultimately gave me the decision not to.

The indents were all different, some were much deeper than others into the skin. Yet, they were all connected, almost like a river. If you poured a liquid onto the scarring, it could very possibly run through the indentions as if they were channels in a stream.

 _...What the fuck happened to him?_

Shaking my head and sighing, I tugged the covers off of me and hopped off the bed, stumbling slightly due to forgetting that I had differently proportioned legs than before. Tenta remained as dead to the world as ever, changing positions subconsciously to get the light out of his eyes.

After a small trip through the hallway and stubbing my toe in the doorway to Tenta's room and turning into a mute sailor for a couple of minutes, I stepped into the room and opened the drawers, pulling out a black t-shirt with a cute little cartoon cat on it, some black shorts, blue socks, and a pair of underwear. Looking inside the shirt drawer I could see a lot of cat shirts, which seemed a little off at first until I remembered Tenta's large fascination with Salt. The kitten would always walk and tangle herself in his legs when we would be sitting on the couch and chatting. It was kinda cute, especially considering that while Salt loves all of us and is a very affectionate kitten, the attachment that she has with Tenta is one of a kind. It's also kinda funny, considering we raised her for a longer time than Tenta has even been here.

I smiled warmly as I shuffled to the bathroom, remembering the small moment when Tenta was lying face down on the floor and Salt kept using her tiny paw to gently tap him until he got up. I'm certain the other inkling was in love with her and would've definitely taken her home with him if he could. And we'd let him, but Salt and Pepper were best buds and I highly doubted that Inkopolis sold cat food in the stores publicly given Judd's the only cat.

Shutting the bathroom door and locking it, I stared into the mirror that was just a foot or two away from me. I was short, that was the most obvious thing by far. Apparently I was less than five feet tall now and... I didn't really know what to feel about that. I was now shorter and much more adorable than my little sister, and she'd always insisted that she's the cutest one in the whole family since she was eight, including our cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmothers, and all those other people I can never remember the names of.

A normal teenage boy would say that's a tragedy, being the 'cutest' one in the family and looking like a child made of jelly, but they just don't know the perks. For one, people were now my slaves and I could make them do my bidding with naught but a small lip tremble and teary eyes. I've been able to convince Alyssa and Terrell to give me so much of their food, I'd leave the dinner table feeling overstuffed and they'd leave it with two bites in their stomachs.

And two, I haven't experienced it myself, but Tenta explained to me some days ago that inklings were basically the lightest, fastest, and strongest species in his world, which over time made them the most populated sea creature on land. I had scoffed and told him that my limbs were weaker than a spider web and he proceeded to crush a watermelon in front of me and my siblings.

No, seriously. He insisted that he could crush a watermelon and he did. Turns out that the ink inside of inklings has a lot more abilities than just shapeshifting, which is what allowed him to crush it. The worst part about it was that Tenta was out of shape, and he crushed it with complete _ease_. Makes me terrified and excited, thinking about what _I_ could do.

I glanced back at the shower behind me.

…Ugh.

Inklings are terrified of water, however, despite how badass they may seem. Showering is a huge pain in the ass because of it. I know what you fuckers are thinking. _What? Aren't you not afraid of water since you lived your life taking baths and showers?_

Ha.

 _ **no.**_

It's hard to explain, but from what I've managed to get Tenta to explain in one of our random conversations, inklings have this problem with... instinct, I think _._ Water used to be their habitat, but since they evolved to be land-dwellers they no longer needed to have gills and the like.

Along with that went their natural comfort for the ocean, apparently, which is stupid. From what Tenta's told me, inklings in their "last stage of growing up 'n shit" gain the ability to swim but often end up drowning anyway since nobody actually knows how to correctly move their limbs in water and for some reason water feels _really goddamn awful_ on your tentacles. It was the feeling as if Death himself was in a liquid form and had no actual power to kill you. You'd feel the dread, but nothing could actually happen to you. Kinda ironic and sad at the same time.

I inhaled really slowly, then exhaled really slowly. I peered back at the shower, dread building up in my stomach. Lunging forward, I quickly turned the shower knobs to turn on the water and dumped my pajamas on the ground after ditching them. This is what happens when you shower in the morning rather than the evening. I could've done it last night and gotten it over with but _noooo_. I mean, Tenta had to use it to clean up so he took up all the hot water anyway. That's my terrible excuse.

I first put my leg in like a wuss, backed out of it like a wuss because it was too cold, adjusted the temperature like a wuss, then shoved myself into the shower and with all my will I forced myself to stay under there so I could be clean like a wuss. You _could_ say I was being overdramatic about this, but every inkling reacted to water like this (definitely including Tenta), so fuck off.

After timing myself to spend a solid five minutes in the shower, I hastily jumped out and shook the water off of me. Literally. I had to clean the mirror off since water droplets got all over it. Inkling skin is loose like dogs for some reason.

I dried myself and put Tenta's clothes on, every item a little too big for me but still an okay fit. I looked into the mirror and while my vision was slightly fuzzy due to my glasses being unuseable, I saw a falsely innocent looking inkling staring right back at me. Golden eyes -not yellow- but _golden_ stared right at me as I looked at my reflection.

.

..

...

God I looked like a dork.

I then opened my mouth into a big grin, showing my beak. The odd thing was that the beak wasn't teeth, it was one solid thing that had two 'fangs' and a tooth right in the middle on the bottom. Beaks needed care just like teeth, so I just did what I normally did and brushed it. Brushing one solid row of teeth with no gaps or dips or anything felt incredibly weird and odd, but that was just one of the many downsides to turning into an inkling and definitely not the worst.

Fiddling with my hair tie, I tied up two of my main tentacles in a loose little ponytail on the back of my head and let the third main one hang by the side like before. I was growing attached to this style, and when the second Splatoon game comes out you bet your ass I'm using it.

Glancing back in the mirror, a little smile was present on my face with my cheeks being slightly tinted purple. Turns out that since inklings are so ink based (and unstable?), their ink actually bleeds into everything. Their tears, their sweat, and their goddamn blood, which is the reason why my cheeks weren't blue instead. Or would they be red? Who knows.

I noticed my ears had perked up in comparison to when Tenta and I had compared our appearances, and I even saw and felt my left ear twitch as some stupid fucking mosquito that snuck into our house flew around it. I ignored the bug and stared at my face a little more, taking in all the changes and coming to a thrilling conclusion.

I was fucking adorable.

Shortly after coming to terms with my appearance, I angrily swatted at the mosquito for a couple minutes before finally managing to smash it against the sink. That's what you get, you little tiny asshole piece of shiiiIT BIT ME TWICE YOU MOTHER FUCKING PIECE OF SH-

Humming a small tune after that mini mental meltdown, I put my dirty clothes in the hamper and stepped out the bathroom, feeling refreshed and rather happy. I cautiously made my way down the stairs (I only fell THRICE) and started hunting for Salt. I had a mission and I needed her to carry it out properly.

I was hunting around in the living room when I heard the landline start ringing. That's right, we had a landline. We didn't really use it much, but it was there just in case someone's home alone and they weren't at their phone at the given time. After a moment, I remembered that my phone was dead and has been dead for at least two days since I'd forgotten to charge it. I blamed global warming.

After stumbli-walking into the kitchen to find the phone that was usually on the counter, I picked it up off the...thing and held it to my ear. After a moment of awkward fiddling I remembered that my ear was pointed outwards and couldn't really have a phone pressed up against it like normal, so I instead put the phone on speaker.

"Hey! I put your ice cream in the fridge, and Alyssa and I are out getting donuts and I just wanted to check up on you since you're usually awake at this hour. We would've woken you but you and Tenta were both extremely out of it and wouldn't get up."

I heard Alyssa chattering in the background.

"...Alyssa wanted to say that you snore like a pig."

I sighed.

"Tell her I said thanks for the input."

More chattering.

"...Apparently you -quoted directly from Alyssa-, 'Sounded like the devil trying to recite a satanic spell while recovering from recent throat surgery, was drowning, and had rocks in his esophagus' when she tried to shake you awake."

"Tell her that her similes would win her an award at a poetry contest."

I snickered as I heard my brother laugh on the other end with Alyssa yelling in the background.

"But yeah, I just wanted to check up on you and Tenta since you both are home alone while we're out getting food. How is Tenta, by the way?"

I laughed as I recalled the image of Tenta sprawled out across the bed with the blankets tangled in between his limbs, "He's still sleeping, but his mood's been better since last night."

I then rocked on my feet a bit as a wide and eager grin spread on my face, "Are you guys gonna pick two donuts for us?"

Terrell sighed on the other end, an unsure tone to his voice, "I don't know, I already got you two ice cream that's in the fridge. I'll think about it, okay?"

Inside my mind I was groaning and whining like mad, but on the outside I simply stated, "Okay."

You know how when adults say 'they'll think about it' for something you want, they usually always go with a yes and you usually end up with the thing you want? Not my brother. When he thinks about it, he really thinks about it. Even if he seems to be leaning towards a hard yes, there's been times when he'd eventually decide that no, he will Not get me the thing I want. I hate it. I hate it a lot.

"Glad to know Tenta's doing fine, though. Anyway, we're almost there so I'll have to hang up since I don't want to be _that guy._ I'll see you at home soon, Will. Bye!"

"Byeee." I sang quietly, hanging up the phone and putting it back on its...thing. Stand? Is it a stand? That thing that the mobile landline phones sit on to charge. That...thing. What is that?

After hanging up, I reminded myself of the mission that was accidentally put on pause. If I were a nosy little kitten who likes to get herself into trouble and needs help getting out most of the time, where would I be…?

This is a multiple choice question. A for backyard, B for bathroom, C for my bedroom, and D….

Wedged behind the fridge.

Right on cue, I heard a soft and pitiful mew come from behind the fridge. I rolled my eyes and walked to the appliance, peeking around it and- yep, there she was.

Her sharp blue eyes glanced up at me and I could see her start to wiggle, motivated by my dashing appearance no doubt. After a moment of no movement, she stopped and gave another sad meow, begging me to help release her from the grip of the vile electronic beast.

"This is the twelfth goddamn time, you stupid little snowball…" I muttered under my breath as I pushed the fridge away from the wall to free her. It took a bit of work with my noodle limbs, but after a couple of short decades she was freed, though she didn't bother to wait and instead scurried out of the kitchen to who knows where.

I looked in the direction she ran off in disbelief, before loudly calling out-

"Y'know, a 'Thank You!' would've been nice to say!"

Naturally, I got no reply.

Muttering bitterly, I walked out the kitchen and spotted Pepper playfully pawing at Salt, tail wagging like mad. The kitten herself was on her back and 'attacking' Pepper right back, paws up and showing off her little bean...things. I'm great with words, did you know?

Reluctantly interrupting their playtime, I walked up to the two of them and picked up Salt, cradling her in my arms. Pepper barked and jogged around me for a second or two, then whined and sat down on the carpet floor, staring up at me with those sad, dark brown eyes of hers.

"Hush, I'm doing important business here." I murmured, carefully maneuvering Salt in my arms so I'd have one arm free to affectionately scratch Pepper behind her ear.

I looked down at the cat in my arms, who looked back up at me, pink nose twitching ever so slightly, "We're gonna go up to my room and we're gonna do something important. Got it? The fate of the world's counting on you."

Don't ask why I'm talking to my cat. It's a cat owner thing.

I slowly went up the stairs, Salt sitting patiently in my arms and Pepper following closely behind, occasionally making those weird dog noises dogs do. No barks, no growls, just...dog noises. You'd understand if you had a dog. If you don't understand, then you don't have a dog. You have an impersonator.

Stopping in front of my room, I looked down at Salt, who looked back up at me with her crystal blue eyes, "I hope you understand this, but you're on a mission. An emotional mission. You've done great with the three of us in the past, but I want you to work with Tenta here. He's been with us for a while and has taken a liking to you and I want you to use that to your advantage. Go in there, win his heart, and be the the most affectionate kitten you can be. Can you do that?"

Salt mewed. I smiled and scratched under her chin before putting her down on the ground to let her accomplish her mission. She was like a spy, a spy kitten. Meowing and kicking ass or something. Sounds like something out of a kid's show.

She instantly dashed into my room and sniffed around while walking to my bed, Pepper following her inside and wagging her tail as she laid down on the floor and stared up at her. After a bit of preparation, Salt hopped up onto the bed and sniffed around some more before slowly stepping to Tenta. From there, she carefully stepped over any odd humps in the blanket and over Tenta's legs, eventually hopping onto Tenta's chest and staring him down.

After a moment's pause, she meowed and meowed over and over and began to start pawing at Tenta's face. It took a couple of gentle pats on Tenta's cheek, but eventually the other inkling began to rouse with a couple of sleepy murmurs about cheese.

Once his eyes were open, Salt started to rub her cheek against his face to welcome him back to the land of the living, meowing happily. Tenta gave her a blank, half-lidded stare as he slowly became aware of his surroundings after being dead to the world for so long.

The moment Tenta fully woke up, the light returned back into his eyes as a warm smile spread on his face. He immediately sat up, starting to eagerly stroke Salt across her back and scratching between her ears. After a minute or two of that, he gently took her into his arms and started whispering cheesy, loving things to her. Then, he straight up buried his face into her fur while laughing at a dumb joke he said to himself. The epitome of cat owners right here, folks.

After a moment, he paused and looked up, before turning his head and his eyes landed straight onto me, "...Will-ee?"

Back with that stupid nickname, I see. I flinched when he acknowledged me and stepped into the doorway. How did he even know I was there?

 **"How the hell did you know I was here?"** I asked.

 **"...Inklings got spidey sense."** Tenta muttered with a grin.

I squinted at him as I moved to climb onto the bed beside him, **"How do you know who Spiderman is? And why does he have a word in your language?"**

He started snickering, **"School."**

 **"...School."**

 **"School."**

 **"...Why school?"**

His snickering turned into laughter, which made him struggle to continue talking, **"H-H-History Class."**

Ohhhh _nooooo._

Despite what I just learned and how stupid it was, I felt a grin form on my face, **"You learned about Spiderman in history class?! You're not serious."**

 **"We learn about the Ancients in a part of history class and- and the biggest theory about him is... h-he was a God of the Ancients, capable of...of using spiders to his advantage and would 'sense' the 'sinners' that w-were committing crimes 'n shit, so he'd...he'd shoot spiders out of his fingers and gross out the criminals into submission."**

My stomach was hurting from how hard I was laughing.

 **"That's...that's not even close!"** I wheezed, wiping stray tears leaking from my eyes.

Oh, but he wasn't done, **"Then they said this dude that was made…"** he had to pause from how much he was laughing, **"Th-they said that this dude...made of BATS-"**

I started crying, the laughter was getting too hard. My stomach was dying, my cheeks felt hot as shit, and I was practically not breathing at this point. I was laughing so hard, in fact, that I forgot that I was the one closest to the edge of the bed and proceeded to fall right off of it.

There was a moment of silence, the impact having shocked me out of my laughing fit. Pepper jumped up from the floor and rushed over to me, sniffing me and making sure I was alright. Then she licked my face.

…

And then we started giggling again. We are mature, masculine, manly men, I tell you.

Tenta peeked over the edge, Salt still in his arms, **"You okay,** Will-ee **?"**

I picked myself up off the floor and climbed back onto the bed after giving Pepper a thank you pet, **"Yeah, what's with you and that nickname for me, anyway? It's weird."**

"Will-ee?" He asked.

I nodded, **"Yeah, that one. You know my name's** William **, right?"**

Tenta pressed his mouth into a thin line, before hesitantly saying, "W-Willlll...eeee-um?"

 **"Almost."**

"Will...am?"

 **"Nope."**

"Will-eeehm."

 **"Nah."**

"...e-eh," I could see that Tenta was struggling a little more than he expected, "Will...eeyum."

 **"It's three syllables,** Tenta."

 **"I'm** _ **trying,**_ **okay?"** He whined, sounding genuinely frustrated. **"We don't have words like that in our language, so I'm not used to making those sounds!"**

 **"It's** _ **three**_ **syllables."**

"Will...Wi...We.," Tenta stuttered, "...Well-ee-am."

 **"Okay, you can just stick to what you first called me. We should work on that."** I murmured as I reached down to the floor and tried to pick up my laptop. That didn't go well, as I ended up losing balance and falling face-first onto the ground, startling Pepper yet again. Not a fun experience.

Bitterly picking up my laptop and plopping it onto my bed, I again strained to climb back onto the mattress, letting out a heavy sigh as I finally managed to get back on top. Opening it up, I could see that I had a couple messages along with some alerts from various social media websites.

Suddenly, an ultra brilliant idea came to mind.

Making sure Tenta wasn't looking, I did a quick google search that I knew would help.

"Tenta." I said simply when I was done, poking the other inkling in the side. He was zoned out, too busy petting Salt to acknowledge the world around him.

"Tenta." Poke.

"Tenta." Poke.

"Tenta." Poke.

"Tenta." Poke.

"Tenta." Poke.

"Tenta." Poke.

"Te-"

He snorted as he snapped out of his thoughts, **"Wuh-Huh?"**

 **"Welcome back to the land of the living!"** I cheerfully stated, clapping my hands in a sarcastic manner.

 **"What do you want?"** He asked with a sleepy smile, burying one of his cheeks in Salt's fur yet again.

I pointed at my laptop while staring him in the eye, wanting to see what his reaction would be.

He rolled his eyes and looked at the screen, then paused. I saw his eyes go wide and he gasped, sitting up while his pupils dilated the longer he stared.

 **"There's more?!"**

Cats.

I googled cats.

The cutest cats.

After all, if one cat could turn him into a mushy mess, maybe a google search of them would turn him straight into a puddle.

It did.

There was around thirty minutes of us looking at various cat pictures, Tenta enthusiastically pointing to as many as he could and asking what breed they were. Me, a giant people pleaser, decided to try and look them all up on their info. Within that half hour I learned so much about cats that I could qualify as a cat expert and potentially a cat whisperer, though that was more of Tenta's thing.

Then, another brilliant idea came to mind.

Three words.

Too. Motherfucking. Cute.

Two words if you remove the swearing.

I knew that I was gonna have to play translator since the show was in English, but despite that I put on the show after going to Animal Planet's website. Though, I didn't get the exact results I was expecting.

Sure, I managed to get Tenta in an extremely good mood. What I was NOT expecting, was for him to turn into an absolute crying mess.

No joke, he was bawling.

Specifically, bawling extremely hard as he clutched Salt into his arms, crying even harder when he noticed that Salt was rubbing her small head against his cheek. I snuck a pic when they weren't paying attention, which I was totally gonna use for blackmail and not to look at later when I wanted to see something to smile at.

In the first minutes of the Too Cute episode, when they were showing the newborn kittens, he was constantly sobbing, **"Th-Th-They're s-so tiny! Why are th-they so tinyyy?"**

He was also constantly saying, **"I wanna kiss them and hold them…"** and **"Ohhh look at them play around and flop everywhere!"** and my favorite, **"I really just...I r-really just wanna play with one for the rest of my life. I don't n-need anything anymore except a baby kitten. I wanna be a kitten. Kittens are so small and cute and I love them so much."**

There was a knock on my door and suddenly Terrell popped in. Oh, they're home.

He looked like he was about to say something, then saw us watching Too Cute on my laptop, then saw Tenta still crying over the kittens, then saw Salt and Pepper right down at his feet, happily welcoming him to my room (though it was more like getting dog and cat hair all over his pants). In his hands were two cups of ice cream. Oh right, I forgot to get those.

We all stared at each other for a minute. Then a minute and thirty seconds.

"Everything alright?" Terrell eventually spoke up, walking into the room and handing us our ice cream.

I waved him off, "We're good, I was just showing Tenta some cats and he…," I looked back at Tenta for a moment and he stared right back at me, still sniveling, "...he got emotional. Inklings, amiright?"

Terrell chuckled, "You're an inkling, so you're implying that you're emotional as well."

I scoffed, "I'm not as bad as Alyssa during mother nature week."

Terrell grinned and shook his head, "That's different. Alyssa gets violent, not emotional. She turns into quite a beast when M.N. attacks."

"She gets into more fights in an M.N. week than all the guys at our school in a _year._ "

Terrell shivered, "I've never seen so many detention slips in one place. It's a miracle she's never been threatened to get expelled. I should look into getting her some birth control."

I closed my hands over my ears, "I don't need to know Alyssa's medical life!"

My older brother rolled his eyes as he handed me the cups of ice cream, "Knowing the biology of yourself and the other sex is important, Will. Knowing that information can improve relationships with people you meet in the future."

"How about I watch baby kittens grow up with Tenta as we eat this ice cream instead? Sex ed's for people who have the ability to retain useful information."

Terrell shrugged his shoulders as he turned to walk out the door, Salt and Pepper following in his footsteps, "Knock yourself out."

I handed the ice cream to the still sniffling Tenta, and quickly got to work on devouring it. Ah, yes. Cake batter. The superior flavor against all others.

Looking over, I saw Tenta shoveling his mint ice cream into his mouth as he continued watching the episode. It was funny to see him so invested in watching the cats grow up, I could tell that he was trying to memorize different cat behaviors based on what he saw and what I would translate.

After the episode ended, Tenta wiped the remaining tears off his face and took my laptop into his hands, **"Where's the next one?"**

I snatched it out of his lap and shut it, earning a small whine from him, **"Let's take a break from Too Cute for a second. I wanna show you something."**

 _ **"** **Nooooooo."**_ He whined in a childlike voice, pitifully reaching out for the laptop in my hands, _**"We only saw one episoooooode…"**_

I hopped off the bed and plugged my laptop in to charge it, **"I really wanna show you something first. It's something important, okay?"**

Tenta huffed, scooping a bunch of ice cream into his mouth and leaving the remaining in the cup on the bed before taking Salt into his arms and leaping off the bed himself, albeit with less enthusiasm.

Stepping my way to the door, I gestured for Tenta to follow me and walked out into the hall. I've been keeping this from him long enough, plus the idea of him screaming over seeing his home, even if it's just on a screen, would be a pretty funny and heartwarming sight to see.

We went down the stairs, Tenta having to let go of Salt so he could hold my hand and keep me steady as we went down each step. It was an embarrassing progress, but I could tell that I was getting more and more used to my new body, since I actually needed much less help than when I first turned into an inkling.

Once we entered the living room, I instructed Tenta to sit on the couch and wait while I went to Terrell's room.

I opened the door and spotted my older brother sitting on his bed with his laptop in front of him, typing away. He looked up at me, then tilted his head to look behind me.

"Tenta's in the living room." I answered his silent question, "Where's the stuff? I wanna get this whole 'telling a person they're from a video game' thing over with."

Terrell pointed a finger at the ground and didn't turn his gaze from his laptop, "There's a container under the bed with everything in it. It honestly surprised me when you guys didn't appear to notice it last night. Knock yourself out, but don't overwhelm him."

"Overwhelming people is what I'm good at." I grinned as I dragged the container from under the bed. It took a surprising bit of effort to tug it, my noodle limbs had very little strength and it sucked ass.

"I thought you were good at sleeping?" He smirked as a noise played on his laptop. Fucking Candy Crush.

I rolled my eyes as I left the room, struggling to drag the container the entire time, "I can be good at more than one thing."

Once I finished tugging the container out into the living room, I stood up and let out a hefty sigh, proud of my effort. I then turned to Te-

He's gone. Amazing.

I heard quick thumping coming from the stairs, and turned to see Tenta coming down them as fast as he could, a spoon in his mouth and the cup of ice cream he had earlier in his hand. Behind him was Salt, following him for whatever reason she had.

 **"I forgot my ice cream! I've never tried mint before, but it's** _ **reaaaaally**_ **good, almost as good as algae."** He chirped as he reached the bottom of the staircase, taking another bite of the ice cream in his mouth.

I stared at the cup in his hand, **"I've never had mint before either, actually, just cake batter and vanilla."**

Tenta gave a short hum, scooping some of the ice cream into the spoon and holding it out to me, **"Try it."**

Without a second thought, I took the spoon in Tenta's hands and put the ice cream into my mouth. I let the ice cream and chocolate chips glide over my tongue to truly take in the flavor as I eventually came to a decision.

Mint ice cream tastes like shit.

I stuck out my tongue and made a face to show my distaste, and I quickly saw Tenta's face go from excited to offended.

 **"Why are you making that face? Mint ice cream is the shit!"** He complained, taking the spoon from my hand and grumpily shoveling more of the shitty ice cream into his mouth.

I did my best to stomach the gross ice cream and pointed to the couch, **"Siiiit."**

" **Stupid shortstack saying that 'mint ice cream tastes like shit', mint ice cream is** _ **the**_ **shit you bastard…"** Tenta muttered in an angry tone, sitting on the couch with Salt curling up next to him.

As I stared down at the container on the floor, I changed my mind, **"Wait, stand back up and come over here. I think you should experience this firsthand."**

Tenta let out a loud groan.

 **"Just get over here!"** I insisted.

After a couple rounds of bickering back and forth, Tenta eventually got back up and stood next to me in front of the container, after putting his ice cream on the coffee table of course.

 **"What is it?"** He asked curiously, staring down at the container with wide eyes.

I shuffled my feet, growing a little apprehensive as I knew that things could change dramatically once the container was opened, **"It's...a thing that I want to show you. You have to promise you won't freak out or think anything differently of me or my family, okay?"**

 **"Uh…"** Tenta started looking unsure, giving me an odd look, **"...Okay? I won't freak out."**

I looked down at the container, then back up at Tenta, square in the eyes, **"...Swear on it?"**

Tenta never stopped giving me that strange look, but gave me a thumbs up and a confident grin despite being a little weirded out, **"I swear."**

I smiled, knowing that he was being genuine. I gave him a thumbs up back, **"Thanks,** Tenta **."**

Taking a deep breath in and exhaling softly to calm my nerves, I bent down and pulled the lid off of the container, slowly sliding it off and revealing the contents.

Splatoon merchandise.

A silence filled the room as we both stared down at the assortment of items, taking in all the different colors and shapes. Reaching down, I pulled up an amiibo with Marie's plastic figure placed on top of the platform, green ink splashing behind her. Her hands were in the classic 'Stay Fresh!' pose and her mouth was open as if she were singing. Her average length grey tentacles were tied into a bow behind her head with dark green tips. Her dress sparkled with glitter inside the plastic and her eyes were colored a sharp gold.

I handed the amiibo to Tenta, who wordlessly took it into his hands. He studied the figure and twirled it around in his fingers, but otherwise said nothing.

Bending down yet again, I picked up another amiibo. This time it was Callie, who was all pink instead of green, like Marie. Her pose copied Marie's but was mirrored, and her mouth was in a wide, open smile as if she were singing as well. Glitter was scattered all across her outfit, which was alike to Marie's but ended in some sort of poofy shorts rather than a dress. Her eyes, while one was winking, the other was colored the same shade of gold.

After a time of staring at the two amiibos, I eventually spoke up.

 **"...Marie's my favorite."** I stated quietly, handing Tenta the Callie amiibo.

The other inkling didn't say a word as he held the two amiibos in his hands, his green eyes flickering between the two as he took in their features.

Then, without a word, he placed the two amiibos on the ground (upright I must add) and reached back into the container. Feeling around for different things, Tenta eventually pulled out a blue box with a plastic covering on the front and back. It was the Splatoon game box.

Tenta stared at the cover of the box, taking in the appearance of the two inklings on the cover and the others in the background. Then he flipped the box over, looking at the back and all the little descriptions and pictures.

He then opened the box, the game disk appearing and spinning ever so slightly, sitting in its slot with the image of a purple background and little green squids lined up in a pattern on top.

There were no words, no talking. I was going a little crazy and I was worried about what would happen next. Would that black hole appear despite all odds? I sure hope not, I paid for the amiibos myself and to have them sucked up would be a waste.

 **"Both Squid Sisters are good."** Tenta plainly stated, closing the game box and turning to me.

 **"So...A video game, huh?"** He asked, that same, goofy smile that he always had reappearing on his face. **"A video game starring inklings? That's kinda rad."**

I studied his face to see if there was a sense of fear or stress or anything else that hinted that he was uncomfortable. But...there was nothing. Tenta was 100% on board with this.

 **"You're not upset? Or...scared? Or feeling like you're going to spontaneously combust?"**

Tenta shook his head, **"No. No. Annnd that ice cream might be messing with my stomach a little so I'll go with a soft** _ **maybe**_ **on that last one."**

I gave him a funny look and bursted out laughing, **"You're not lactose intolerant, are you?"**

 **"I said a _soft_ maybe, ice cream fucks up my stomach sometimes!"**

 **"That is pretty much the exact number one symptom of lactose intolerance, man."**

Tenta pointed at the Splatoon copy in his hand, **"SO HOW ABOUT THIS VIDEO GAME, HUH? OH YEAH REAL SHINER!"**

"Tenta, **you should really get diagnosed by a doct-"**

 **"SO WHAT'S THE PLOT? THE GAMEPLAY? ARE THERE WALKTHROUGHS? HOW ABOUT THE CHARACTERS?"**

 **"Um…"** I hesitated as I tried to remember the different parts of the game, **"Multiplayer is turf wars, ranked battles, and private battles. Single player is when you collect Zapfish and defeat Octavio and-"**

 **"Whoaaaa."** Tenta interrupted with wide eyes, **"Defeat Octavio?"**

 **"Yeah! We play as this girl named Agent 3 and-"** I was fucking with him at this point.

 _ **" _I'_ m not a girl!" **_He shrieked, hitting me over the head with the Splatoon box in a joking fit of anger.

I started laughing yet again despite the light pain in my head, **"I'm fucking with you! I know you're not a girl. The Agent 3 that everyone in this world knows** _ **is**_ **a girl though, since Splatoon was originally going to be an all-girls game."**

Tenta narrowed his eyes as he looked back at the Splatoon box, **"Then how come** _ **I'm**_ **not a girl?"**

I shrugged, **"I dunno, you're just like that. You** _ **are**_ **my Agent 3, after all."**

Tenta started coughing and sputtering, getting his saliva all over the carpet. I had to reach over and pat his back a couple of times to help him stop choking on his own spit. It took almost a minute for Tenta to get himself back together, but when he did, he looked surprised as hell.

" _ **What?!"**_ He whipped around to ask me, nothing but disbelief in his voice.

I gave him a blank stare, **"You're...You're my Agent 3. From this game. I created you with random customization and now...you're here."**

Tenta sat in stunned silence.

 **"...No fucking** _ **way."**_ He whispered to himself, a smile spreading across his face. **"That's fucking** _ **rad!"**_

It is?

 **"It is?"**

 **"Yeah!"** He yelled enthusiastically, **"You're like, my creator! My God! Or would you be like, my alternate mom? I already have a mom but you can be my** _ **second**_ **mom! Or maybe my very own dad? I'm not su-"**

It was off-putting and yet kinda funny, seeing Tenta being so excited over something I thought would destroy the world seven times over. His eyes were practically sparkling as he looked at the disk inside of the game case, as well as when he was looking at the two amiibos I had shown him.

As he was rambling on about me being some sort of god to him, I stared down at the amiibos on the floor. While they weren't sentient or anything, I got a sudden urge to put them to use and show Tenta what they did. Tenta mentioned before about being homesick, so maybe if I…

 **"Hey,** Tenta **."** I said suddenly to catch his attention. He snapped his mouth shut and watched as I picked up the amiibos off the floor and walked up to the Wii-U next to the television. From there I turned on the console and turned back to him, waving the two amiibos teasingly.

 **"Wanna see these two figurines in action?"**

 **"They can** _ **do**_ **stuff?!"** Tenta gasped, genuinely looking as though he were about to spontaneously combust, except out of happiness instead of some universe imploding thing or worse... _lactose intolerance stomach problems_.

After the Wii-U loaded and I selected my profile out of a choice between me and my sister's, I selected Splatoon after inserting the disk into the slot and watched it load. The sound of drums filled the room and we both began absentmindedly tapping our fingers to the beat. Inklings have some odd inner love for music and it was the most weirdest thing to experience for yourself. It was almost as if the music was controlling me, it was too hard to ignore and not try and dance to.

Tenta had pointed at the screen, eagerness clear in his voice, **"That looks like my room!"**

I glanced over it, then looked back at him with an unimpressed look, **"Your room is as bland as a cracker,** Tenta **."**

He made a face, **"The landlord isn't a fan of letting us paint our rooms, okay? That's why I try to get a buncha posters and put them up everywhere. Plus, our apartments are much bigger than that. We get a small living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom. It's usually a one person apartment but siblings or friends can bunk to save cash."**

" **Huh,"** I hummed, **"That's neat."**

After pressing the ZL and ZR buttons on the gamepad, we were brought up to the screen which the Squid Sisters broadcasted from regularly. Right on cue, their opening chime played through the speakers of the tv, which resulted in Tenta bouncing in his seat excitedly.

Even though the cousins opened up with their opening lines that everyone knows and loves, the rest of the newscast was pure disappointment. The first lines were actually the same words as the text on the screen, but everything after that was literally jumbled up voice clips. Glad to know that there's nothing that changed into something magical in this video game, even after me magically turning into an inkling.

Tenta seemed a little disappointed by their voice clips being nothing but jumbled messes and not anything actually discernable, but that disappointment easily got overlapped by the overwhelming happiness of seeing the two idols again after so long, even if they were just characters on a screen.

After leaving the news, we were greeted by the scene of Inkopolis Plaza with the camera pointed down at our inkling. Well, it _would_ be pointed at the inkling. Y'know, if he was there.

I sighed, **"...Right."**

Tenta gave me a quick glance, **"What's wrong?"**

 **" _You're_ supposed to be there, that's why the game's locked like this."**

 **"Ohhhh."**

We sat in silence.

...

 **"...Soooo, what now?"**

I groaned and pressed the home button, **"We go onto my sister's account and reset the game."**

 _ **"** **Sweet."**_

After going through all of that once more, we opened back up to the plaza and were presented with my sister's inkling. The inkling in question was only level one, and therefore wearing the classic newbie clothing. A white headband, a mustard yellow shirt with some odd writing on it, and cream colored shoes.

I noticed Tenta immediately began to make that same gagging noise as when he was picking out my pajamas.

 **"No! No no no no no! Get it off! Change her clothes! No!"** He shrieked dramatically, covering his eyes with his hands as he writhed around in 'pain' on the couch.

 **"Stop being dramatic."**

He gave me a repulsed look, **"I'm** _ **not**_ **being dramatic, those clothes are actually causing me real pain. My body physically cannot handle the sight of those pieces of** _ **rags."**_

 **"Were my pajamas causing you pain too?"**

 **"Oh, no. I was on the brink of death with your pajamas. I mean, what kind of self-respecting person would put** _ **that**_ **on their body? The most** _ **moldiest**_ **clothes to ever exist, in my opinion."**

 **"God, you are such a fucking mess."**

 **"I'm taking that as a compliment."**

Rolling my eyes, I picked up the Marie amiibo and waved it to get Tenta's attention.

 **"I can make one or both of them sing, if you want."**

His ears twitched, the pink inkling looking at me with utmost seriousness. **"No fucking way."**

 **"Yeah, yeah."** I nodded with a wide grin.

Tenta looked at the tv, seemingly lost in thought, before turning back to me and reaching for the gamepad.

 **"Can I do it? Teach me how. I want to do it."**

Chuckling, I handed over the gamepad and quietly instructed Tenta on how to maneuver the inkling and told him to head towards the amiibo box at the back of the plaza. I then handed him the amiibo and told him to hold it on the corner of the gamepad. He gasped in genuine awe as different colors of confetti swirled around and generated Marie, the girl seeming confused at first for how she appeared in the box but quick to accept it.

 **"Where's Callie?"** Tenta asked, sounding a little fearful. Did he think they could only sing their solos?

I shook my head. **"She'll come no matter what song you pick. If you choose Marie's solo, she'll just sit on top of her truck and watch her sing."**

 **"I can choose more than one song?"**

 **"...Yeaaaah?"**

Tenta stared at the screen and pressed A a couple of times. Once presented with the choices, he squinted at the screen and then promptly handed the gamepad back to me.

 **"Choose 'Ink Me Up' for me please, I can't read."**

I snorted, **"Of course."**

He started whining, **"Please teach me to read and speak English, it looks like a fun challenge."**

You know that inklings are a little more on the intelligent side if learning one of the hardest languages in the world is 'a fun challenge'.

After a bit of squinting by yours truly since my vision of the tv was still Very Blurry, I selected the requested song and watched as the amiibo logo came on screen and the entire scene went black.

Once the scene reloaded, Alyssa's inkling was back in the plaza, outfit almost exactly the same except a Marie themed splatfest shirt was in the place of the mustard yellow one. It was night time, with little brightly colored particles floating from the ground and into the sky. Two large trucks were present, each with their respective Squid Sister present on top, dancing to the song with enthusiasm.

I could see the game's reflection in Tenta's eyes as he watched the screen, his gaze never faltering. His eyes were wide and full of nothing but awe as the song kept playing and the girls kept singing. He slowly stood up, walking around the coffee table and stepping close to the television.

There wasn't much I could say happened next that was good, other than that as he got closer, he slowly reached a hand up and touched the screen. Nothing happened, despite what our hearts desperately hoped for. No magic light, no big bang, no electricity cutting off. Just...Tenta touching the tv screen.

The song repeated.

Once.

Then twice.

A third time.

...

 **"I miss you guys."** A small, choked voice spoke up after such a long time.

Holy shit, that's _right._ Callie and Marie are Agents 1 and 2, they both personally know Tenta and they must've become good friends behind the scenes. They aren't just idols to him, they're both his closest friends and the people he's grown attached to over the year and a half they've spent together so far.

Eventually, Tenta lowered his hand from the tv. Then, he turned around.

Hot tears ran down his cheeks and he didn't try to hide them, instead letting them fall and soak into the carpet floor. His fists were tightly clenched as he struggled to keep himself from crying too much, and he'd occasionally use his forearm to wipe his eyes.

He took one step toward me. Two. Three. Suddenly, he was right in front of me.

Leaning down, he wrapped his arms around me slowly as he struggled even harder to keep himself from crying. I embraced him back, gently rubbing his back and trying to quietly reassure him that everything was okay.

After a moment, he backed out of the hug and rubbed his eyes once more. Even though the tears kept coming and coming and weren't stopping, he gave me a wide, happy grin without a hint of sadness inside of it.

 _ **"Thank you so much,**_ _William."_

* * *

 **So, a shitload of things happened in this chapter. This one was a bitch to write but I'm honestly a little proud of it!**

 **First things first: I am now sixteen years old, I'm a junior and upcoming senior in high school, and I currently own like 7 switch games and an actual switch console. Lot's of things has happened since this story last updated but I've remained dedicated to trying to keep this story alive by rewriting all of it so it could better fit my standards for good writing. Obviously, it's not PERFECT but I feel a little better about it than before, y'know?**

 **One of my biggest fears in the process of rewriting it has been losing some of the humor you guys have praised me for in the past, as I feel I may have changed and my humor may be a little more dry. I'll rely on you guys' feedback to tell me if things have changed, though, so please leave a review and tell me what you honestly think!**

 **Speaking of reviews, I've read each and every one of the reviews you guys have sent me and I'm honestly kinda flattered? I never really expected you guys to still comment on it even after almost a year of no updates, nevertheless you guys asking me to update it consistently. Because of those reviews, I've done my best to push myself to finish up this chapter as soon as I could so I can bring a nice surprise to your day! On the downside, I don't have a proofreader so there may or may not be some errors here or there hehe...**

 **But really, thank you all so much for sticking with this story despite it taking so long to get something new! This author is still here and still fucking loves splatoon!**

 **If you want to see me outside of fanfiction, I have a multitude of links to other social media sites where I (try to) regularly upload artworks and do commissions.**

 **Instagram, Twitter, Amino: chubbidust**

 **Tumblr: chubbydust**

 **Deviantart: DustyToonLink**


	12. alyssa: i don't feel so good

Tenta angrily slammed the Wii U gamepad on the couch in a fit of rage, snarling as the loss screen for Splatoon online matches displayed on the tv screen. He slapped his hands against his cheeks multiple times to get himself under control, dragging them down exaggeratedly in an overwhelmed manner and then glaring up at me with a harsh scowl. I wouldn't blame him, I was busy laughing at his misfortune despite his capabilities to body slam me at any moment.

" **Judd is a lying, dirty bastard in this. Our team clearly won, he must've gotten a bribe from one of them. Even in an alternate world this game is still fucking rigged."** He complained, picking up the gamepad again and flopping back against the couch, pouting like a child and kicking his feet as if having a mini tantrum.

It took him a while to get used to the controls, but he grew sour over how 'basic' the game was. Apparently, in his world, inklings would do all sorts of shit and use different tactics to get their opponents that were impossible to achieve in the game. Inklings could flip over one another, they could roll, they could even hang from poles that dangled out of bounds and do all sorts of trick shots. While in the game, all you really could do is just...run and shoot. Very pale in comparison.

The next match started up with the familiar beat of some drums, Walleye Warehouse making an appearance instead of Moray Towers, which was the other stage in rotation. The camera panned over the stage as the introductory music played, highlighting different areas and creating this urge in the both of us to go and destroy the look of cleanliness it had.

Tenta cocked his head at the sight of the stage and made a befuddled noise.

" **Walleye Warehouse is bigger than that. Way bigger."**

I gave him a look as I tried to fabricate what a 'bigger' Walleye Warehouse would appear like in my imagination, " **...Really? How big is it?"**

He gave a one shoulder shrug as he gripped the controller in his hands, preparing himself for the next match, " **It's not that big compared to other stages, but it's bigger than whatever this downscaled copy is."**

The match began, music blaring through the speakers to pump our bloods up. Inklings in the game darted off their spawn point and began inking like there was no tomorrow, the entire base being covered in seconds. Tenta was using the Splattershot Jr in the default, newbie clothes, but had already gotten to level 21. He wanted to keep going in the same lobby until he got sick of playing for the day for some reason, which resulted in us both being able to name everyone in the lobby based on their gear since they've been playing for a while too. Well, _he_ was able to discern between each inkling, _I_ had to squint to read their names since I was still as blind as a bat. It was quite a miracle that he hadn't been disconnected yet too. What if it was a part of that 'magic' that turned me into an inkling? I wouldn't be surprised.

I hummed as I idly tapped my feet against the ground to the beat of the song, " **What if I actually got to play in a turf war? What weapon do you think I'd use?"**

Tenta shrugged and tilted his head to the side in thought as he quickly moved his fingers on the controller, practically a pro already, " **I dunno. Judging by the way you are right now, you'd probably be a charger. Chargers usually don't like to move that much and play defensive. You're a defensive kind of person. You're also a bit on the lazy side, which is perfect for a sniper."**

" **I'm** _ **not**_ **lazy."**

" **Just the other day you tried to get me to do your chores for you."**

I sat upright and let out an offended scoff, " **That's** _ **not**_ **true! I was trying to get you to bond with our pets more since you've been living here for so long!"**

Tenta glanced at me, unimpressed. His gaze was cold and serious, very out of character for him.

After a few seconds of him staring at me with that unamused look, I sheepishly turned my head off to the side to avoid his gaze.

" **Okay, yeah...trying to bribe you to clean** Salt' **s litterbox was a bad idea."**

He made a mock, disgusted gag as he recalled the incident, " **How does a tiny, sweet and little kitten like her produce shit that's so** _ **rancid?"**_

" **We took her to shitloads of vets because of that. One walked out and didn't come back, another almost quit her job."**

" **Did you try switching her diet?"**

I slouched and let out a hard sigh, " **Yeah. We changed it seven times. Bought all kinds of different kitten foods to fix the smell but nothing worked. Now we just try to get the best kind of litter to mask it altogether."**

" **Your litter is shit. Which is supposed to mask shit. Which it is absolutely** _ **shit**_ **at doing."**

I threw my hands up in exasperation, " **I know! I tried to tell** Terrell **but he won't hear me out! It sucks ass being on litterbox duty. I'm so scared of her litter becoming sentient and me having to beat it with bat like in those cartoons.** _ **That's how bad it is.**_ "

" **Have you tried burning it?"**

" **I...What?"** I asked, befuddled with the odd question that came out of nowhere.

" **Burning. Have you tried it?"**

" **A statement like that coming from you makes me** _ **incredibly**_ **terrified."**

He barked out a short, but genuine laugh. I continued, peering up at the screen as Tenta carefully navigated himself across the map, " **Why would I burn a litterbox of all things?"**

" **Seems like a good idea."**

" **It's not."**

" **How would** _ **you**_ **know?"** He asked in a fake snooty voice, " **Have** _ **you**_ **ever burned a litterbox?"**

" **Have** _ **you?**_ "

He paused, the inkling on screen halting in her footsteps as well, " **...Yeah."**

I did a double-take, staring at him incredulously with the vision of him lighting a match and dumping it into a box of cat shit crossing my mind. Then I came to the conclusion that he definitely seems like the kind of person that would do that and it was strange of me to have doubts.

" **When? Last time I checked, there was only one cat in your world."**

Tenta pursed his lips as he seemed to recall a story in his mind, " **The sea slugs that we have as pets also use litterboxes. One time, I found some dumped litter in a trash can outside our apartment and-"**

" **I don't like where this is headed."** I interrupted, struggling to keep the obviously mature frown on my face.

" **Nonono trust me- it's good."** He snickered before continuing, " **I got the litter, right? And I put it into a little bag and set it on this one bitchy neighbor's front por-"**

" **Her front porch."**

" **Yes! Her front porch!"**

" _ **Why?"**_

"' **Cuz!"** He whined, his inkling dying via a random splattershot pro jumping in from behind him, " **She wouldn't give me some of the bread I asked her for."**

" **Bread."** I muttered in a voice of disbelief, " **You burned her porch with a pile of shit. Over** _ **bread."**_

" **Y...Y'know!"** He stuttered, sounding uncertain, " **The sweet kind! It's the expensive one that's higher on the shelves! I couldn't reach it as a kid!"**

" **Wouldn't the more expensive bread be at eye level so that you'd be more likely to b-"**

" **This is** _ **my**_ **story and I'm making myself the victim like I am."**

" _ **Bread.**_ Tenta. **You're making yourself the victim of a story. Over** _ **bread."**_

" **...Yeah,** _ **bread."**_

" **You burned shit on her porch-"**

" **For bread, yes. It was completely justified.** _ **I'm**_ **the one in the right here,** _ **I'm**_ **the one with the inkling brain.** _ **I'm**_ **the only witness available to come to this court so you** _ **have**_ **to use my allegations against that bitch. You absolutely** _ **cannot**_ **change my mind."**

" **..."**

" **What? Got something to say?"**

" **...Did you ever even** _ **get**_ **the b-"**

" **No."**

"Oh my god."

" **I got grounded by my mom and was forced to clean it off."** Tenta bitterly sighed, slouching in his seat as the loss screen for Splatoon popped up on the tv.

We sat in silence as the inkling on screen had a quiet tantrum, slamming her weapon into the ground in a fit of rage as the results appeared next to her.

" **...Was a load of shit if you asked me."** He spoke up again, glancing at me with a shit-eating grin.

" **..."**

" **..."**

" **..."**

" **...Geddit?"**

" **Go- Shut the** _**fuck**_ **up."** I rested my face into my hands, groaning softly, " **Don't ever do standup or-or any sort of comedy career. That was awful."**

" _ **Hey!**_ **My humor is great! Not my fault you don't have a funnybone in you!"**

" **Inklings don't** _ **have**_ **bones,** Tenta **."**

" **Tha-That was...That was another j-"**

" _ **Alright!"**_ I immediately decided to change the subject, jumping up from the couch and marching toward the stairs at a quick pace, Tenta's dumbassery starting to aggravate me. " **Let's go upstairs and do something less-"** I fumbled with my words, struggling to think of something to describe the tastelessness that had just transpired, " _ **-you."**_

Tenta snickered and tilted his head back against the couch, gently tossing the gamepad onto the cushion beside him and staring at me with half lidded eyes full of mirth, " **Okaaaay, teach me to read** English **. Learning another language is always kinda fun."**

I raised my brow, " **You like learning new languages? What can you speak?"**

He shrugged his shoulders, absentmindedly rubbing his nose with a finger, " **I don't really know any other languages besides Inktonian, I just found the foreign language classes to be neat."**

" **Did you actually** _ **learn**_ **anything in them, though? Remember** _ **anything?"**_

Tenta paused, looking up in thought and furrowing his brow as he searched through his mind. He tapped his finger to his chin, glancing off to the side and sticking his tongue out in a silly manner, narrowing his eyes as he thought even harder.

Finally, after almost a minute of thinking, he had one beautiful, amazing answer that would wow the scholars across the earth.

" **Absolutely not."**

" **I-You-You really remember** _ **nothing?"**_

He shook his head with a bright smile, albeit with a bit of sheepishness, " **Nothing. I slept for most of it and it went through one ear and out the other. It was the only class that the teacher wouldn't nag me into doing my work, though."**

I snorted in amusement as he took my hand and slowly led me up the stairs for the upteenth time since I still could only handle them as well as a toddler with an ear infection, " **You're a fucking disaster."**

" **Absolutely."**

* * *

Children's books Alyssa and I used to read when we were young brats were scattered along the bed along with some broken pencils and scrap paper. We had been at it for a while, likely a couple of hours. I had managed to go over the alphabet numerous times with Tenta and was helping him memorize it. Laying on my stomach next to him, I pointed to the laminated sheet of paper with the entire alphabet printed onto it.

" **What letter is that?"** I quizzed him, pointing my finger to the letter 'E'.

Tenta hesitated, though I could tell the gears in his head were doing their best to turn. He stuck out his tongue in thought and idly tapped his pencil against the side of his head as if it would help him recall.

" **...** 'F' **?"** He answered shyly, then sighed and shoved his face into the blankets in disappointment when he saw me shake my head.

" **Nah, that's** 'E' **."** I corrected him, then pointed to 'F' on the paper, " **That one's** 'F' **."**

Tenta let out a muffled groan, " **Why did you guys make them look so similar to each other and right next to each other on the alphabet? It's fucking dumb!"**

" **Well, honestly there's no real reason why the alphabet is organized like it is. The song that goes with it is in that order, though. It should be helping you."**

He raised his head and shot me a glare, " **It doesn't and I hate it."**

" **I thought inklings had a whole rhythm thing going on?"**

Tenta threw his pencil down and shrieked in heated anger, " **That song is the biggest sack of** _ **bullshit!**_ **It stays in your mind for ages and it's not even good! I can remember the tune just fine, but the letters are scrambled messes that I want nothing to do with!"**

I stared at him blankly.

He glared back at me, incredibly heated over something so small.

" **...You have a really weird hatred for the alphabet song, huh?"**

"' **S** _ **bullshit**_ **is what it is."** He muttered under his breath as he stared down at the devilish letters before him, " **The alphabet can suck my dick."**

" **Aren't inklings smart? You don't have a big head for nothing."**

He huffed and ignored the question, grabbing his pencil and placing it on the top of his lip, pursing his lips so that it'd stay balanced and imitate the appearance of a mustache.

" **Look, I'm Cap'n Cuttlefish."**

" **You look absolutely** _ **nothing**_ **like him with that pencil on you."**

Tenta pouted, crossing his arms sourly, " **Liar. All I need are some glasses, a bamboozler, and the ability to make terrible raps."**

" **...Raps?"**

He shrugged, taking the pencil off his lip and opting to chew on it idly instead, " **He doesn't really do much other than stress over octarians, so he decided to take up rapping. He's not too good but he's getting kinda better at it."**

Figuring Tenta was just messing with me, I shook my head and changed the subject, " **Yeeeeah, okay."** I pointed to the 'V' on the laminated paper, " **What letter's that?"**

Tenta furrowed his brow in intense thought as he looked down at the paper, chewing so hard on the pencil that I could hear crunching noises come from his mouth. He stayed like that for a few seconds, eyes narrowing with each passing moment.

" **...'** Y' **?"** He answered hesitantly, looking at me with an uncertain glance with half of the pencil sticking out of his mouth in a goofy fashion.

I shook my head, " **Nah, that's '** V' **,"** I pointed to 'Y' on the sheet, " _ **This**_ **one is '** Y' **."**

" **Fuck you."**

" **Why do you even wanna learn** English **in the first place?"** I asked him promptly, feeling snappy from his not so polite response.

Tenta stopped chewing on the pencil and sighed, resting his head on a hand and fiddling with the bedsheet's fabric, " **...I dunno how long I'm gonna be here, so I might as well start adjusting to this place as soon as I can in case I'm here for years."**

An overwhelming silence quickly set in, bitterly reminding us both the fact that Tenta was stuck in a place that wasn't familiar to him in any way. He didn't know any of the languages on the planet, he hadn't seen his friends in weeks, _and_ he had to stay hidden from public view to avoid any sort of harassment or even being kidnapped.

My ears twitched ever so slightly as I struggled to clear up the tense awkwardness, " **Well-I'm sure you'll get home eventually. You got here, you should be able to get back."**

Tenta grunted, going back to chewing on the pencil, " **I hope you're right. Maybe if I get a way back, I could bring you along and show you around Inkopolis 'n stuff."**

I nodded enthusiastically, trying to stay on the positive side of things, " **That'd be rad as hell! It'd be cool to learn how to play turf wars and fight in actual battle! You should show me your place too, I could give you some redecorating tips so your room doesn't look so bland all the time."**

Tenta glared up at me, still chewing on the pencil, " **My room isn't** _ **that**_ **bland. I told you, I can't paint it."**

" **You can try and make excuses all you want but your room will always look like a dry piece of cracker."**

I quickly stretched my arms and yawned, picking up my laptop that was on the floor charging next to my bed, " **Anyway, wanna listen to some jams? I've got a wide selection of stuff. We can listen to regular human music, video game music, Splatoon music…"**

Tenta clicked his tongue in contemplation, tapping the pencil to his chin, " **Do you have any remixes of some Splatoon songs? Since my world is a video game in here, there's bound to be some remixes of some bands back at home."**

A grin spread on my face as I browsed youtube, " **Yes! Which one do you wanna hear, Squid Sister remixes, battle music remixes, Octarian remixes…?"**

Tenta frowned and looked up at me with an unsure gaze, " **Don't do Octarian, please."**

I cocked my head to the side and stuck out my tongue as I struggled to find a good remix, " **Alright, then. Hmm…** 'Show Me Dat Ink' **by some dude named** James Landino **. How do you feel about that one?"**

" **You say those words as if I can understand them. What's that a remix of?"**

" **Maritime Memory, I think."**

" **Oh!"** Tenta chirped, ears perking up just like his attitude, " **Play it! I love that one."**

" **You love all of the Squid Sisters' songs."** I muttered dryly, receiving a sheepish smile in return. Clicking the mousepad and adjusting the volume so that it was on maximum, the song began to fill my bedroom with sick beats. I've played this song many times in the past, the beats never failing to make me move to the rhythm.

Glancing at Tenta, I couldn't help voicing something that'd been brewing in my nerd brain for a while. " **...If you can- once you're done learning how to read, can you teach me how to read Inktonian or whatever it's called? I wanna feel like I'm special by knowing how to read a 'fictional' language."**

Tenta scoffed and shook his head, " **It's not gonna be easy at all but I can try. Since you're an inkling now, you might be able to get it down in no time. I'll have to warn you, though, we have a shitload of characters in our written language and they're all separated into groups. Your alphabet is practically a spec on a dish plate while ours is a full course meal served with seconds and dessert."**

" **That's encouraging."** I stated sarcastically, hopping down from the bed and picking up a random discarded children's book from the floor.

" **I mean, I guess you were right when you said inklings have big heads. We learn fast, so you should be able to read sometime soon. Depends on you, really, it could take from a week to a month or so. Though, from hanging out with you so far and truly using my judgement, I'm going with from three months to five years."**

" **Glad to know you've got faith in me like a good friend."** I murmured under my breath, " **Did you memorize the alphabet yet? I can start helping you with pronunciation and all that."**

Tenta bit the inside of his cheek, " **Um, twenty-six letters in total, right?"**

" **Fifty-two if you count both uppercase and lowercase."**

Tenta tilted his head back and let out a loud whine, squinting his eyes shut in irritation, " **Ugghthhuhguhgh. Okay, let's keep going."**

"Tenta-Tenta **listen. I want you to sit right there, look me in the eye, and tell me what the absolute** _ **fuck**_ **was that noise that you just made with your mouth. What** _ **was**_ **that?"**

* * *

It took Tenta the rest of the afternoon and into the evening to get the sounds of the letters right. We went over all of the letters and had a thirty minute argument over the pronunciation of the letter 'A', with both of our points admittedly uneducated and flawed. On the good side, he'd managed to memorize the whole alphabet and had most of the sounds of the letters down. He wanted to learn how to write his name in English, but it was getting late and I was tired. Plus, his handwriting was equivalent to a stereotypical doctor's.

I came into the room after recently showering, a disgruntled expression on my face since showering still was a dreadful chore. I was wearing a light blue shirt that used to belong to Terrell, and as you may have guessed it was _way_ too big for me. Therefore, it was the perfect pajama wear. Well, almost perfect, it was a little awkward on my shoulders but it didn't matter much. Most of Tenta's pajamas didn't fit me anyway, so this was gonna have to do.

" **Y'know, I've been wondering,** Tenta."

The other inkling turned his head to me, a strawberry flavored lollipop he was gifted to from Terrell a little earlier shoved in his mouth as he was laying on my bed, watching childish alphabet learning videos on my laptop ironically to entertain himself, " **Hmmm?"**

I hopped onto the bed with minimal difficulty this time, laying next to Tenta and watching the odd videos with him, " **We've called you** 'Tenta' **this whole time, since there was a language barrier and saying your real goddamn name was basically impossible, so I've been wondering...What's your name? Your actual name? Since I can understand the language 'n all now."**

Tenta grunted and turned back to my laptop, popping the lollipop out of his mouth, " **Before I answer that- did you** _ **really**_ **name me after 'Tentacle' in your language?"**

" **...Possibly."**

He shook his head in a disappointed manner, but couldn't hide his mirthful grin, " **You're an asshole."**

" **I mean, the equivalent for 'Spot' was one of my options as well. Knowing you now, I personally think that it's not too late for a name change."**

" **W-** _ **Spot?"**_

" **Yeah!"** I flashed him a bright smile, " **Spot! The freshest name of all!"**

" **It's** _ **not**_ **fresh."**

" **Who's a good boy?"** I teased him with a mockingly joyful voice that one would use on a dog, " **Are you a good boy, Spot?"**

He broke into a giggling fit, shoving me roughly with his hand, " **Shut** _ **up."**_

" **You wanna treat? Huh, Spottie? You want a treat?"**

" _Will!"_

" **Okay okay!"** I cackled, grabbing a pillow and wrapping my arms around it, resting my head upon its top, " **You already got a lollipop anyway."**

We sat like that for a while, continuously watching different videos. They ended up quickly drifting from alphabet videos to gameplay videos, and then to cats. Again. Tenta couldn't get enough of the little furballs, he especially loved kittens. We had to wrestle over the laptop when a notification from one of my friends had popped up in the middle of a video and I had wanted to check it, and the asshole ended up winning thanks to my incredibly weak noodle arms. It sucked being a weak little inkling at times.

Knocking gently, Terrell suddenly opened my bedroom door and poked his head in, "Hey Will, Tenta. I'm leaving early in the morning tomorrow so I'm saying goodbye for now."

I narrowed my eyes, pausing the adorable cat video and sitting up from the bed, "...Already? You just got here, though. I thought you had two weeks off?"

My brother shrugged reluctantly, "Work's work, Will. Time goes by too fast when you're having a good time, I guess. I asked for an extension already and my time's up so I gotta head back tomorrow to keep everything in order."

I sighed, ears twitching gently as I hopped down from the bed and stepped up to him, "We didn't really get to do a whole lot together, though. I was kinda looking forward to it."

Terrell chucked, briefly glancing up at Tenta before resuming to look down at me, "Well, I had plans for us all to do things together almost every day once I got back but…" He gestured to Tenta and me. Right.

I nodded in understanding and folded my arms, sighing in disappointment, "Yeah, us turning into inklings threw a spear right through your plans, didn't it?"

He shrugged again, a regretful expression on his face, "We can't exactly bring you two to amusement parks or anything like what was planned. Things could happen. We'd very likely lose you both and would never get you back."

I clicked my tongue, the two of us falling into an awkward silence. We stayed like that for a couple seconds, unsure what to say next to each other. Was that it? We were just gonna say goodbye like that? I hadn't seen Terrell in so long and this is all I have to say?

Suddenly, a harsh thump sounded along with a sharp hiss of pain. Whirling around to see what happened, I got to take in the beautiful sight of Tenta laying face first on the carpet floor, his body awkwardly leaning against the side of the bed and his arms sprawled out in awkward positions.

Before I got to make a comment, he quickly got himself onto his knees and then onto his feet, perking up as if nothing happened. The funny part about it was that both of his tentacles had decided to come undone from the ponytail mid-fall and attach their suction cups to his cheeks, resulting in a pretty ridiculous sight.

Terrell shook his head in amusement, chuckling at the inkling's appearance, "Glad to see you're still chipper and odd as usual, Tenta."

Tenta's ears flickered, the inkling unable to understand Terrell but registering his name and the amused tone in his voice just fine. He flashed my brother a quick grin and a thumbs up, clearly still trying to pass off the last fifteen seconds.

Terrell snorted at the sight and then turned to me, "Well, give me a hug goodbye and you two can go back to watching those cat videos."

I looked back at my laptop, seeing that it hadn't, in fact, gone into auto sleep mode yet and was still on the paused youtube screen with a bunch of playful kittens mid-tackle. One had her little paw shoved inside her brother's mouth as they both seemed to be wrestling for a mouse toy. Tenta and I had yet to see how the brutal fight turned out.

I turned back to Terrell, "We've been watching them all day. Really, they're kinda thrilling. Kittens are pretty brutal and heartless."

"I bet they are. Just before coming in I could hear their battle cries as they slaughtered each other."

Chuckling at our shit humor, we both went in for a hug, my arms wrapping around my older brother tightly. It was slightly awkward, given I had a bigger head and bigger hands than what I was used to, but we made it work. It was the best hug I'd received in a while, in all honesty. It was warm, snug, and it actually kinda felt nice among all the dread brewing in my stomach over worrying about Terrell. He was the one who usually took charge in the house and kept us all cool, without him 'Lyss and I have a high risk of burning the place down at any moment.

"'M gonna miss you." I murmured quietly to him, tightening my hold around him as much as I could.

He patted my back reassuringly, then gently broke the hug, "I'll be back before you know it. It'll be a little long this time, but I'll try to bring back a souvenir or two to make up for it."

Terrell then turned to Tenta, an unsure expression on his face. They hadn't really interacted all that much all this time, Tenta would always stay somewhat close to me since I was the only one he could talk to. And I usually liked to linger in my room, having constant interactions with my family was a bit of a hassle at times and too much of a strain for me to keep up with.

Shrugging his shoulders, my brother swiftly bent down and hugged Tenta in the exact same way as he did me. Tenta had actually flinched at first, not expecting the hug, but quickly afterwards an expression of extreme bewilderment crossed his face. Then, he slowly relaxed, returning the embrace and nuzzling his face into the crook of my brother's neck with a soft hum. It was easy to tell that he was thoroughly enjoying it, which made me absent-mindedly wonder when the last time he'd gotten hugged like that.

Eventually, they both came apart as well. Tenta looked crestfallen when they split, reaching out his arms in a meek, begging manner when Terrell backed out, silently asking for another hug. That's all it took for Terrell to give him another one, playfully picking him up with gentle arms this time and swinging him around in circles like he had done to 'Lyss and I when we were younger (and lighter). The other inkling let out a yelp in surprise at first, but quickly dissolved into giggles of excitement once he realized what was going on. They kept at it for a couple more seconds, until Terrell eventually let him back onto the ground and ended the fun, much to Tenta's disappointment.

"I'm surprised you guys don't weigh that much," Terrell commented with amusement in his voice on his way out the door, "Tenta seems almost as light as an 11 year old."

Exchanging our goodbyes once more, Terrell eventually left the room and shut the door behind himself, on his way to his room to start packing for his trip.

We both sat there in silence, staring at the door in an odd way, as if expecting it to open back up. I could hear the jingling of Salt and Pepper's collars as they briefly passed by on the other side, likely up to some shenanigans that I'd have to clean up later.

" **...Your dad's a really good hugger."** Tenta spoke up after a couple moments, causing me to whip around and squawk at the statement.

" **He's my** _**brother!"**_

" **What?! How?"** He looked startled, eyes darting between me and the door, " **He looks so much older than you. And...more emotionally and physically fit. With less carbs in his blood."**

" **First of all- fuck you. Second of all- he's around ten years older than us. That's why he's practically our dad."**

Tenta narrowed his eyes with suspicious curiosity, blurting out the very question I had hoped he wouldn't dare tread upon.

" **If he's 'practically' your dad, then what happened to your real one?"**

I awkwardly glanced off to the side as soon as the first word left his mouth, unsure how to respond to such a question. I never really knew what happened to my parents, they had up and left at some point when we were all pretty young. Terrell refused to say what happened to them no matter how much we'd pry, so we eventually just gave up and came up with random theories.

I gave an uncertain shrug as my answer, avoiding eye contact with Tenta as I stepped back to my bed and climbed back upon it, quietly resuming the cat video.

" **Wait-** _ **Shit.**_ **Fuck-Uh...** Will-" I heard Tenta stutter before feeling him climbing onto the bed right behind me, crawling along the sheets until I could see him in my peripheral vision.

"Will, **I'm so sorry."** He apologized with a desperate tone, nudging me in the side, " **I didn't mean to say tha-"**

" **It's fine."** I accepted his apology in a flat, knowing that he really didn't mean to intrude. " **I just...didn't really know much about him, y'know? Neither of my parents."**

I didn't get a response at first, but eventually I could feel the bed shifting yet again. After a moment, I felt two arms wrap around me, Tenta burrowing his face into my back and refusing to budge.

" **I'm sorry."** He apologized again, voice muffled in my shirt, " **It was an inconsiderate question and I didn't mean to hurt you like that."**

He kept apologizing after that further and further, practically pouring his heart into every apology, sounding just like those dumb shakespeare characters. I had actually expected it to get a little redundant after a while but turns out, Tenta can be pretty crafty with his words. After a while, though, I just promptly turned around, grabbed his face with my hand, and comically shoved him onto his back and off of me. The startled squawk he let out made me struggle to hide my amusement, since it sounded between the mix of a drowning cat and a barking dog.

" **Chill about it. It's fine, really."** I eventually said to him, the inkling himself staring back up at me with a stunned stare, " **You said sorry. I said it was fine. No need to go on like you're a poet singing to their long lost love or something."**

Tenta evaded eye contact with me for a second, pulling himself back into a sitting position and looking down at the blankets he was sitting upon.

Eventually he sighed, slouching ever so slightly, " **Yeah, okay. Got it. I jus-My dad never was around either. I feel like an asshole hypocrite because of that. I don't like it when people ask me about him and-"** He made an odd and exaggerated hand motion, struggling to put his thoughts into words, " **-here I go doing the same to you."**

I snorted, " **Well, at least we got one more thing in common. Hurray for us both having no proper father figure in our lives…?"**

Tenta stared up at me with unimpressed eyes for a couple of seconds, until his soft frown turned into a dumb smile, " **That's so sad, man."**

I rolled my eyes and tried to change the topic, " **Let's just keep watching dumb cat videos and eventually pass out at three a.m. with leftover pizza and empty soda cans surrounding us like in those movies."**

" **Do we even have money for pizza? Or any sort of orderable junk food?"**

" **Absolutely not."**

" **...Is there at least soda in the fridge?"**

" **The best we got is apple juice and cranberry juice."**

" **..."**

" **..."**

* * *

Tenta and I were later half drunk on cranberry juice and sleep deprivation, making loud and exaggerated comments on the various 'Cat Fight Cat' videos on youtube while laying in my bed. We didn't know what time it was at that point and it didn't even matter. You know what mattered? Mittens the cat. She was the biggest badass in a five minute video we watched, flipping over her opponent Maxie and using the cupboards in the kitchen to her advantage. It had Tenta and I shrieking for her and practically shaking the laptop screen thanks to our incredible love for her.

" **Dude. Listen. When I-"** A hiccup interrupted his sentence, " **-get...get home, I'm starting a petition to rename Judd to Mittens."** He muttered, eyes firmly fixated on the screen where two random cats were duking it out. A dog was in the background and standing partially behind a couch while comically switching its gaze from one cat to the other, unsure which one to watch.

I yawned, too tired to properly cover my mouth, " **I'd back that petition, even though Mittens is more of a girl cat's name."**

" **Doesn't matter, he'd have the name of a true warrior that went through the deadliest of battles."**

" **Hell yeah. True shit."**

Tenta continued, lazily browsing the youtube results for another entertaining video to watch. (Newsflash, neither of the cats won that fight and the dog left eventually), " **Judd's so...fluffy. And soft. The name Mittens wouldn't suit him, in all honesty. He's a judge, not a piece of clothing."**

I nodded in agreement, " **That's true, too. The name Judd suits him, whoever named him has great naming skills."**

" **Hmmmm."** Tenta swirled his finger on the mousepad, making the mouse on screen spin around in circles, " **If I got my own kitty, I'd name her Mittens. She'd be a warrior."**

" **I'm surprised you'd get your own cat, since Judd is sentient and all."**

He shrugged, looking upwards towards the ceiling and clearly fantasizing about his 'dream' cat, " **Your cat and Judd are completely different. Judd can talk and has opinions. Your cat is an idiot that gets herself trapped behind a fridge. She's** _ **adooorable**_ **. Plus, she can't talk and willingly lets herself be pet and hugged."**

" **Would you still love her if she had a litterbox like** Salt's **?"**

Tenta glanced off to the side, face completely neutral. That's body language for 'I would toss her into a garbage truck immediately if I smelled one wiff of a dump like that'.

" **Really man, really?"**

He shook his head in a defensive manner, " **Okay no! I was kidding! Swear on it!"**

" **Suuuure. Dump an innocent cat on the street because her shit smells bad. For shame,** Tenta **, for shame."**

" **No! I was kidding! I wouldn't care about her litterbox at all! Her personality's the selling point. If she likes me and likes my apartment, we're good."**

" **And if not?"**

" **That's not an option."**

I started snickering, the sleep deprivation getting me into a bit of a giggly mood. Tenta started laughing too, shoving his face into the bedsheets to muffle it since it was getting a little loud. We were both tired, giggly teenagers at what may have been three in the morning. I personally was having the time of my life, it wasn't very often that I would be up late at night cackling over something so small, much less with someone to do it with. I was genuinely having fun, despite the only activities we've done in the past hour being drinking cranberry juice and watching cat videos.

Much to Tenta's chargin, I had to end the fun and shut the laptop since I was so tired that I lost track of time and was struggling to remember the difference between A.M. and P.M.

" **Okay, let's pass out now."** I murmured under my breath, burrowing myself into my sheets and pillows, "Tenta **, turn out the light."**

" **Say please."**

I sighed, shooting him a pleading gaze, " **Please?"**

" **No."**

" **Okay. Thank you."**

Tenta made a confused noise, "Will **, I said n-"**

" **Thanks for volunteering,** Tenta."

There was a pause, a gallon of dread filling my stomach as I knew that Tenta was plotting something. And before I knew it, I felt two hands roughly shove me right off the bed, mocking laughter coming from Tenta as I plunged to my doom. I cried out a startled shriek, using my giant hands to cushion my fall and landing a harsh impact. Unexpectedly, my wrist suddenly spiked up in pain, causing me to hiss in pain and clutch it with my other hand in hopes of soothing it.

" **Fuck you too!"** I barked out, huffing through my nose as the pain slowly ebbed away.

The laughter sharply cut off, Tenta peering over the side of the bed with a worried look. He was clutching a pillow in his arms, hugging it to his chest as if it were his childhood stuffed animal. I'd have smiled if I wasn't pissed at him.

" **...Are you okay?"** He asked, meekly hiding part of his face behind the pillow in an ashamed manner.

" **No I am not, fuck you and thanks for asking."** I snapped, suddenly angry for no reason. I mean sure, I had a right to be pissed, but it wasn't like me to continue to antagonize someone like this.

He shrunk back, averting his eyes and looking even guiltier than before, " **I'm sorry. I'll-uh...I'll go and turn off the light."**

" **No…"** I sighed, rolling onto my back and rubbing my eyes, " **I'll do it, you stay there and keep being dumb. Wrap the blankets around yourself and all that."**

Sighing again, I slowly stood up from the floor and stepped over to the light, lifting up a finger to turn it off. Giving a quick glance back at Tenta, I saw him in the process of wrapping all of the blankets around himself just like I told him, the other inkling shooting me a pitiful look when he caught me staring.

Rolling my eyes and wanting to lift the mood, I flicked out the lights and stepped back over to the bed with a plan in mind. I forcefully (and playfully) shoved Tenta out of my spot, the other inkling catching on immediately and letting out an exaggerated whine, kicking at my hands in an effort to resist. However, I had immediately planted my body right back where it was, snatching the blankets from around him and wrapping them around myself instead. Tenta put up a fight, however, tugging on the covers with a playful grin spreading on his face. I was the same way, a dash of competitiveness taking over my mind as we fought over the blankets with strong tugs.

Finally, after a minute or so of us playing a game of strengths, my fingers let the blankets slip from their grasp due to aching from exhaustion, plus I wanted to seem convincing when I let him win. Tenta laughed as he surrounded himself yet again with the blankets, boasting about his victory and rubbing a bunch of salty lemons in the wound. As he let himself melt in the blankets, I sighed and laid down, deciding not to be a sore loser and taking my defeat with sportsmanship. I would win the blankets next time.

...It was really cold, though.

In fact, it only got colder as the night went on. I was having a hard time getting to sleep thanks to the constant chills I was getting down my spine, goosebumps rising on my skin. It might've been four in the morning at that point, I easily lost track of time and I was so tired that I might've dozed once or twice, but I couldn't get myself to actually sleep. I was shivering and constantly shifting positions, desperately trying to find one that'd let me stay warm somehow.

" **...Hey,** Will **?"** I heard Tenta murmur, breaking the silence of the night.

" **Hm?"** I hummed, letting him know I was awake but trying to make it seem that I was woken up by him. He didn't need to know that I was cold.

" **...Are you cold?"** Shit.

I huffed through my nose, burrowing my face into my pillow to try and muffle the prideful tone in my voice, " **No."**

" **Are you sure?"**

" **I'm sure."**

He was quiet after that, clearly rolling with my answer and going back to sleep. I was going to do that too. Except, y'know, I was cold and in fact Couldn't sleep at all. Were inklings sensitive to cold or something? Geez, it felt like I was in the arctic.

After a minute or so, I heard Tenta shift beside me and suddenly some of the blankets were on top of me, Tenta reaching over and making sure I had enough to cover my body.

" **The hell are you doing?"** I asked with an accusatory tone, secretly thankful he'd given me the blankets after all this time.

He snickered, scooching himself slightly closer to me and checking one more time to see if I was properly covered, " **You were awake this entire time, prideful bastard."**

" **I was** _ **not."**_

" **Inklings don't do well when cold, covers are a must when the A/C is on full blast."**

I rolled my eyes, " **I was doing** _ **fine."**_

" **Liar, you were freezing your butt off."**

" **I was mildly chilly."**

" **Just say thank you so we both can go to sleep and I can rub it in your face in the morning."**

" **...Thanks. Thank you."** I muttered, tightening the blankets around myself and finally feeling myself beginning to fall asleep.

" **Yeah. You're welcome."** I heard Tenta yawn, " **...It's-It's easy for us to get frostbite. You seem really sensitive to cold, so you could've gotten in deep shit if you were like that too much longer."**

" **Then why'd you wait so long to give me some of** _ **my**_ **blankets?"**

" **I…"** I heard him laugh sheepishly, " **I fell asleep before I could give you some."**

" **Wow."**

" **I'm** _ **sorry!"**_

" _ **Wow."**_

"' **S your fault anyway, you didn't ask for them in the first place."** Tenta huffed, " **Maybe you've been an inkling too long, deadly stubborness is a common trait of us."**

" **Oh."**

We sat in an awkward silence, his words starting to bounce around inside our heads.

" **...Maybe I** _ **have**_ **been an inkling too long."** I mused, pulling the blanket up to my chin, " **I'm not really the stubborn type. That goes to my sister."**

" **All inklings are stubborn in one way or another. Maybe that's starting to be brought up in you?"**

I pondered the thought, pulling the blankets up to my chin, " **...Possibly?"**

I heard Tenta yawn yet again, " **Let's sleep on it. And by sleep on it I mean let's just ditch the topic and pass out because...because...because I'm…"**

...

A snore.

Struggling to hold in my laughter, I turned on my side and closed my eyes as I attempted to get myself to sleep. I couldn't help but worry about my predicament, though. What if I really _was_ turning more into an inkling- personality wise? It may not have been much but I kinda liked myself being chill with stuff most of the time, stubbornness was my sister's specialty. I couldn't be a _second_ Alyssa. That'd end the world. It'd be the worst natural disaster as of yet.

Choosing not to dwell on it too long, I let myself slowly succumb to sleep, nuzzling myself into one of my pillows and falling under into a peaceful rest.

* * *

She's coming.

I was running down a never-ending hallway that just kept stretching and stretching, going further every time I thought I'd reach the end. It was covered with a thick haze that was barely transparent, adding to the unsettling feeling in my gut about being in this...weird and _dark_ hallway _._

Spiders and ants and all sorts of bugs were crawling along the floor, scittering and scattering and following my footsteps . Then, they were crawling on my arms, digging themselves into my skin and trying to crawl closer to my head, my face. I didn't know how they got there and I didn't dare try to comprehend it, but I was desperately shaking them off as I kept sprinting down the never-ending hallway. There was suddenly a light at the end of the tunnel. I was almost there, I could feel it.

Loud, twisted laughter that sounded incredibly unnatural pounded against my ears as I ran, reminding me every passing second that she was coming.

She was coming.

She was closer.

I could hear screaming from behind me. It sounded like Alyssa. I was all too familiar with that voice.

I wanted so badly to keep running to evade _her_ so I could at least save myself _,_ but to leave my sister to fend for herself against that thing would be a bastardly move even for me.

I whipped around and stopped in my tracks, panting heavily as I struggled to spot my little sister against the darkness of the narrowing tunnel.

She was being held up by her neck with a single tentacle made of a dirty haze, clawing at it desperately, her nails cracking and bleeding from the effort. Her mouth was open and gasping for air as she struggled to breathe and her choco-brown eyes were staring right at me with a glimmer of hope in them, begging me to help her in some way.

I reached out to her, stretching myself to my limit and jumping as high as I could, trying my damned best to get her down and out of wherever in hell we were. Yet, with every time I tried to jump to at least reach her legs, she always seemed just _baaarely_ an inch out of reach.

Suddenly, the tentacle quickly morphed into an arm. It had happened in the blink of an eye, even though time was slowing down as things grew more serious.

As quickly as that one tentacle morphed into an arm, four more of them suddenly appeared, all of them individually wrapping around my sister's different limbs.

Alyssa started screaming once more with a rasp to her voice, struggling even harder against the one wrapped around her neck, her knees bending ever so slightly as she fought to kick at the ones holding her ankles.

The grips of the four arms grew tighter, forcing her still and gradually reducing the will to fight in my sister. I could only watch in horror as her struggling eventually faded into her sitting in dead silence, staring down at me with fearfulness, tears brimming in the corners of her eyes..

The arm wrapped around her right arm suddenly flashed and left me blinded. And with a snap, the arm was in its grasp, unattached to Alyssa and limp. I couldn't hear it, but I could clearly hear the dripping of her blood echoing as it puddled onto the cold ground, the sound also echoing throughout my mind.

I backed away as soon as I realized what was going to happen to the rest of her body, nausea piling up in my stomach and threatening to flow out my mouth.

I tried to close my eyes to not witness the event occurring, but I was forced to watch by some mysterious force as every single arm flashed one by one and separated Alyssa's limbs from her body, each snap much louder and more prominent than the one before.

Then, with one more snap as if it was no big deal, came off Alyssa's head.

I wanted to spew right then and there as I turned around to run, the image was so grotesque and its constant reappearance in my thoughts made me sick to my stomach. My hearts were pounding and my limbs were aching after running so much, but I kept going. She got my sister, and she would get me next if I didn't bail now.

I constantly tripped over myself as my sprint down the hallway continued. The light at the end was nowhere to be found, just showing more darkness.

There was a roar, and a dark and faceless figure materialized from the air around me. Her stringy, black hair blew everywhere in an imaginary wind as she came closer to me with a haze of dust whirling around her. We were only feet apart, staring at each other. One gaze filled with fear, the other with maliciousness.

A wide grin spread on her head, the mouth too big to be considered normal. It spread from ear to ear, teeth alike to a great white shark's. Within a millisecond, she held up Alyssa's head, holding it out to me and forcing me to watch the blood drip from her severed neck and onto the ground.

The head opened its mouth, a voice that would never fit Alyssa echoing throughout the hallway.

 _ ** WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME...?**_

Screaming soon filled the room, and it took me a second to realize it was me.

* * *

I clambered out of the bed, feeling something wrapped around me and trying to force me still just like that same bitch as before. I fought against it wildly in a panic, my limbs flying everywhere as I fell off the bed and onto the floor with a harsh THUD. The image of _her_ pounded through my thoughts as I fought off the arms grabbing at me and made the effort to charge out of the room with quick and desperate footsteps.

A loud BANG rang throughout the area as I slammed face-first into the door, the impact forcing me to a halt and the rebound making me fall right onto my back, giving me an over-the-top wakeup call.

As soon as I felt the impact against the ground, I could hear Tenta cry out a startled squawk as he quickly fell out of the bed as well, clearly having woken up thanks to whatever the hell just happened. Then there was a small pause in what I assumed to be him standing up from the floor and then looking back at the bed, wondering where I went.

AAAND cue.

"...Will?"

There it was.

After some shuffling here and there, I eventually could spot Tenta standing above me in the darkness, gazing down at me with a concerned glint in his eyes.

" **Are you okay?"**

Try as I might, I couldn't respond. The words weren't properly forming and my brain was just going through a million things at once. It was chaotic in there despite the silence on the outside.

Turning his attention to something else, Tenta stepped out of my field of vision for a moment and leaving me wondering why until the lights were flickered on. As quickly as that happened he came back into my sight again, looking down at me and the concern only growing.

" **Your nose is bleeding,** Will **."** He murmured as he reached down and took my hand, pulling me into an upright sitting position. " **What'd you do? It looks banged up pretty bad."**

Still unable to respond, I hesitantly touched two fingers to my upper lip and pulled them away, looking down to see little splotches of purple blood running down both of them and into my palm.

Oh.

" **Your sister can patch up stuff, right? I can go and get her, if you want."** Tenta offered, sitting down in front of me, eyes clearly focused on my nose.

I stared blankly back, my brain a tornado at that point and struggling to comprehend anything that was going on at the moment. It was chaos up in there I tell you, like that one scene in spongebob with the fine dining and breathing stuff.

And then all those spongebobs in my mind hit a door face-first too. Everything went from zero to a hundred fast. I just broke my nose after having what was probably the _worst nightmare in my life._

I could feel my breath hitch as images from my dream appeared back in my mind, all of them seeming so _real_ and _genuine._ I could still hear _her_ laughter echoing in my mind, taunting me and almost assuring me that she'd be back when I least expected it. That terrified me.

A sudden heat bloomed in my face, a familiar and dreadful feeling starting to prick at the corners of my eyes.

Shit.

Shitshitshit.

Nonononononononononononono.

 _ **No.**_

C'mon, Will. You're better than this. You're stronger than this. You really can't be doing this right now, it's not the time and place and frankly it'll be _really_ embarrassing. Really? In front of Tenta? In the middle of the night? You're not two, you're fifteen and mature enough to handle this in a more proper manner. There's no time for this.

No matter how much I tried to reason with myself and get the feeling to go away, I couldn't. I couldn't stop the tears brimming at the corners of my eyes, I couldn't stop the soft sobbing that forced its way out of my throat, I couldn't stop the fact that Terrell was gone, I couldn't stop the fact that the throbbing in my nose was really starting to sting, and I _especially_ couldn't stop the realization that _oh my god I'm an inkling and I could possibly be stuck like this for the rest of my life and I'd be forced to live indoors with no outside human contact forever._

This was really happening. I was stuck like this. Things were going to shit right now and they were only getting worse. Everything sucks. _Everything_ _ **SUCKS!**_

Time was moving by so fast that everything was a blur at this point. I could barely see and I could barely breathe through my crying, I couldn't register anything at all. The brick wall of Reality hit me full force. Where was my future headed? Where was _Tenta's_ future headed? What the _FUCK_ was up with that godawful nightmare? I know reading it wasn't all that special but when you actually know what it looked and sounded like...it's jarring. It really is.

I know that Tenta and I've discussed that since he found his way here, he must be able to find his way back but...What if he _can't?_ What if he's stuck here? What if I'm stuck like this? Everything seemed fine and dandy at first but time and time has only went on and nothing has happened and things are getting so frustrating and…

I could feel somebody rubbing my back as someone else gently patted a tissue against my nose, my senses finally starting to work again and letting me register what the hell was going on around me.

Oh, hey. Alyssa was here now.

Specifically, she was the one patting the tissue against my nose, a deep frown on her face as she concentrated on getting my blood somewhere other than the ground. Her glasses weren't even on her face, and they were usually the first things that she put on when waking up so obviously she headed here in a hurry. Somehow, that made me feel both better _and_ worse.

On my right and in my peripheral vision I could see Tenta sitting next to me, shuffled as close to me as he possibly could be while rubbing my back affectionately. It honestly didn't do much for me but I greatly appreciated the sentiment.

"...Mmkay." My sister spoke up, holding the tissue to my nose while adjusting her position to be more relaxed and comfortable, "You okay now, Will?"

I held my hand up to the tissue, quietly offering to hold it myself so that she wouldn't have to hold up her arm for too long, "'M fine."

"You didn't _sound_ fine." Alyssa muttered with confusion hidden in her tone, letting me hold the tissue myself, "Tenta almost banged the door down when he was trying to get me. I got scared as hell when I saw the look on his face, Will."

I snorted, recalling the nightmare and my sister's horrified face that I myself was frightened over, "Ironic."

"I... _What?"_

"Nothing." I shook my head, reaching up a hand to wipe away any remaining tears and the streaks that many had left behind on my cheeks. My face felt cold now. I was cold all over now. Hell yeah, hurray for cold nights while being up at five am crying your eyes out.

Alyssa sighed, reaching up to push the glasses that weren't there up to her face, "Listen. I don't know why you were suddenly crying with a bloody nose at five in the morning, but I've lived with you enough to get that it's probably something to be talked about later, isn't it?"

I paused as I hesitated to agree. On one end, I could talk about it and just get the tension off my shoulders just a tad. On the other end, it all was probably just something stupid and nothing to worry about and I'd probably get strange looks if I talked about it anyway.

Slowly nodding, I quietly dabbed at my nose and checked to make sure if anymore blood was coming out.

"Am I still bleeding…?" I asked quietly, tilting my head up so my sister could see my nostrils a little better.

She peered into them a little closer and then shook her head, shrugging one shoulder, "Doesn't look like it, but you should still at least ice the bridge. It'll help the swelling and the pain."

"...Mmkay."

We all sat in silence, Tenta still rubbing my back but at a slower and more calming rhythm. It was nice now, I kinda was starting to dig it. It invoked a warm feeling in me that made me want to wrap blankets around myself and fall asleep to it. Except...I wasn't tired. Not after all of that, anyway.

"...Wanna watch Big Hero 6 in Terrell's room? His TV's the biggest and has the best speakers." My sister asked out of nowhere, slouching in a casual manner as she tried to ease the tension just a tad, "We can all like, have a top-tier sleepover in there. Chill and watch movies and order pizza or something. And forget everything that happened for later. Plus-his bed is really fucking comfy. Best mattress in the house."

"Do pizza places even deliver this early in the morning?"

"We'll keep calling until we get what we want. Loo- _Don't look at me like that."_ She sighed, clearly imagining her personal wallet and how much money was in it at the moment, "Will it make you feel better if we tipped the dude 50% of the price to make up for it?"

I gave a passing glance at Tenta, who was looking off into space and clearly not paying attention to our conversation whatsoever. Not that he could, he didn't understand a lick of what we were saying at all.

" **You wanna eat pizza while watching a movie you won't understand at all on an extremely comfortable bed?"** I asked him, pulling him back into the world of the living.

It took him a second to comprehend my question, " **Will the pizza have anchovies?"**

" **No. Why would you even suggest that as a topping?** _ **Why is that the first and only question you ask?"**_

" **Listen,** Will **."** He whispered in a completely serious tone, grasping my shoulders with his hands, " **You aren't a true inkling until you can enjoy anchovies on pizza. Every inkling likes it.** _ **Every. Inkling."**_

"The hell are you two talking about?" My sister cut into the conversation, butting in like she usually did.

"Nothing. Order a large pizza with half cheese and half pepperoni."

" _ **Anchoviiiiies."**_

I sighed, gently pinching the bridge of my nose and squinting my eyes shut, "And ask them to put anchovies on one of the slices."

Alyssa snorted in amusement, glancing between Tenta and I as she made the connections without having to ask any questions, "Want me to ask them to put some jellyfish too?"

I shook my head, "The smell of the anchovies will be overwhelming enough as it is, no need to add anything else that'll make me vomit."

* * *

Half an hour later in Terrell's room, we all were laying on his bed while sharing a multitude of blankets and pillows, scarfing down the pizza that 'Lyss had ordered like there was no tomorrow. The lights were out and the only thing illuminating us was the big TV that sat from across the bed, playing Big Hero 6 on Netflix with added subtitles since...I'm not sure. Why _did_ we have subtitles on? They were in English too and Tenta can't even use them since he doesn't know any of this world's languages.

Instead of choosing to speak up about it, I just instead sat quietly and iced my nose with a bag of frozen vegetables as I enjoyed the pizza while sitting in between my sister and Tenta. Speaking of him, he couldn't understand a word of what any of the characters were saying but he clearly was very invested in the movie, only asking very relevant questions here and there like "What are they doing now?" and "Where are they?" It was kind of adorable, in all honesty, the way his eyes were fixated firmly on the screen and rarely moving elsewhere, even when he went to grab another slice of pizza.

Also.

Anchovies on pizza actually was really good.

Tenta let me have a bite of his slice and I fell in love instantly. I almost ate it all until he had to wrestle the slice out of my mouth to get me to let go of it. I regretted telling 'Lyss to buy only one slice of this stuff, it was the _shit._ I genuinely craved more. Why wasn't anchovy pizza more popular? What the fuck?

Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you guys?

As time went on and on and the movie progressed, I could feel myself starting to get pretty tired. The dull lights of dawn were starting to peak in through the windows, letting us all know that it was getting _reaaaally_ late. We all needed to sleep pretty bad. Like, seriously bad. Tenta was constantly nodding off at this poi-nevermind. He just plopped face-first into a pillow and started snoring immediately. He must've been really exhausted, then again we both had only gotten around an hour of sleep so far anyway.

Looking to my left, I could see Alyssa slowly succumbing to the same face, the remote in her hand slowly slipping out of her grasp as her eyes drooped and eventually fell shut, face partially buried in a mixture of blankets and a pillow. She didn't snore as loud as Tenta did but it definitely was noticeable and aggrivating to hear against the quiet of the night. She'd seen Big Hero 6 a billion times at this point anyway, so naturally she must've gotten tired of it and passed out bored out of her mind.

Thus, there was one.

Gently taking the remote out of Alyssa's hand, I quietly shut off the TV and let the darkness of the room take over, the only light now being the ever-rising dawn outside the window. Pulling the blankets up to my chin, I quickly shifted positions to let myself get more comfortable and did my best to tune out the snores of my sister and Tenta as I struggled to fall back asleep.

Admittedly, I had some worries about the nightmare recurring but as I sat there inbetween my sibling and friend, I realized that the nightmare definitely wasn't going to return anytime soon.

Plus, I had the blessing of anchovy pizza in my stomach. You _can't_ have nightmares with that delicious slice of goodness inside of you. You just can't.

Please.

Try it.

I beg of you.

* * *

 **Listen, I know it's not the best thing in the world but I had to shit out _something._ SO here it is, a giant fuckfeset of a it, hate it, go nuts. I personally am not a fan of it but it's to move the story forward and I don't really know what much else I can do with it. I'm my own proofreader so this is as good as it's gonna get. Sorry for all the horizontal breaks, I have a weird thing for timeskips and I really gotta work on toning it down. Also, sorry for not sounding so prideful right now, I'm just a little anxious LMAO**

 **I'm personally worried that I've fallen kind of out of touch with humor over these years. I'm a senior in high school now and I'm much more different than I was when I first began this story. I feel as though where I've risen with great grammar and spelling, I've fallen intensely in the humor department that really is supposed to make this story. Be honest with me, did the jokes in this chapter make you laugh, or were you surprised to see me call them 'jokes' in the first place?**

 **I want to satisfy my readers and tell this story in the most captivating way possible, but I worry that I may have lost that significant 'touch' or whatever I had when I was like 14 when I first began this story. I worry that it's dry humor and pretty tasteless now. I mean, I sorta got a chuckle out of writing this chapter during the not-so-serious parts, but is it really _funny?_**

 **I can't really stress over it too much. Even if this story becomes tasteless and boring as it goes on, I'll keep going because I crave for this tale to be finished.**

 **But either way...**

 **Have you guys noticed Will's slow transformation?**

 **P.S.**

 **I'm trying to throw in some foreshadowing like a good author. Am I doing it right?**


	13. donkey kong crash course

Stirring from the blissful comfort of sleep, I grimaced in pain as the harsh afternoon light hitting my eyelids burned my retinas and forced me to wake up. I tried to turn over onto my stomach and block the light by shoving my face into a pillow, but it was too late. I was awake and I wasn't happy about it.

I groaned bitterly and rolled onto my back, lazily slinging an arm over my face as my senses woke up and took in the world. My pointed ears twitched slightly as random birds chirped outside, the noises being a lot louder and more distinct to me than ever before. It was so weird being an inkling, everything felt so familiar and yet so _different._ It was like I was in another world sometimes. Despite my vision having the permanent inability to focus on far away objects, it still felt drastically improved compared to when I was human. Is this what being a dog is like? But with my eyes instead of my nose?

With a small yawn, I slowly began to accept my fate that I was awake and sat up from the comfortable mattress, the cold air around me almost immediately freezing me to death. I rubbed my eyes a couple times and licked my chapped lips, my brain slowly starting up and preparing itself for whatever weird day we were gonna have today.

I slowly stepped off the bed as I yawned for the final time, shivering slightly from the cool air as I gently stepped out of the room and to the kitchen to make myself some quality, 5 star and A+ breakfast/lunch for myself to enjoy. Seriously, I was the best cook in the house. My sister's called my cooking "something to die for," though I could be paraphrasing just a little bit.

As I walked to the kitchen, memories from the night flickered in my thoughts, reminding me of my apparent meltdown in the middle of the night. I shook my head as if that'd get rid of them, trying my hardest not to think about them at the moment. It was just a bit of silly anxious worrying, it wasn't anything important. The anchovies on the pizza slice was a nice thought, though.

Anyway.

Funfact: Having a short stature isn't fun when you're trying to reach into a cabinet that you already had issues reaching into when you were human (and taller).

Even on my tippiest toes I still was struggling to open it and grab a bowl, and it was even worse since I had the biggest and awkwardest hands on the planet. I felt like some weird badly drawn anime boy as I opened the cabinet door, all I needed next was some big anime eyes and a pointy chin. Then again, would the protagonist of some sort of trash manga be struggling with opening a cabinet door because he's too short? Probably not.

Finally managing to get my eye on a bowl, I did my best to snag it with my hand and while I didn't grab it, I got it to wobble towards the edge. By this point my arm was _burning_ from the effort and I was practically out of breath, so I had to back away and take a breather. Then I immediately went back into it once the burning faded a bit, rushing back to the cabinet to get that damn bowl once and for all. Being short really sucked ass.

Once again, I got the bowl to wobble closer to the edge. But what I _didn't_ expect was for it to suddenly tumble right out of the cabinet, its white porcelain surface was declaring war on me as it fell right towards my face, me being too stunned to react and catch it. It SMASHED against my forehead in an instant and I flinched from how much it fucking _hurt. GOD._ Do all head injuries hurt like this for inklings? Jesus.

I was too busy rubbing my forehead to realize that the very distinct shattering sound that definitely would've made me flinch didn't sound throughout the house. Instead, I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder, which prompted me to slowly turn my head and lay my eyes on the white and shiny bowl that was still completely intact. Wh…

Oh. Tenta.

" **You dropped something."** He snickered with that same shit-eating grin he loves to make. Then he ruined the moment by immediately yawning afterwards, must having just woken up probably minutes before.

" **I'm short."** I muttered, snatching the bowl from his hand and placing it on the counter. Huffing through my nose, I stepped over to the refrigerator and opened the door, grabbing the carton of skim milk and putting it on the counter too.

Then, I went to get the cereal and-

…

Growling under my breath, I reluctantly took the milk and put it right back into the fridge, not even bothering to mess with the bowl. All that suffering for nothing. Nothing.

Tenta caught onto my ordeal immediately, chuckling lightly as he looked up at the top of the fridge.

" **Why's your fridge so tall?"**

" **It's designed for humans."**

He gave me an odd look, " **Are humans not usually five feet tall?"**

" **First of all, I'm like four feet and ten inches tall,"** I sighed, longingly staring up at the Fruity Pebbles box on the fridge, " **Secondly, the average height for a human is around five foot six or something. Maybe. Don't quote me on that."**

We both looked up at the cereal box in silence.

" **...Do you not have a stool?"**

I shook my head, " **I don't know where it is. Alyssa uses it a lot and constantly puts it in random places. I've stopped bothering trying to keep up and I'm already a weakling as it is, I probably wouldn't be able to carry it."**

" **Oh."**

We were back in silence. We do that a lot.

Weakly raising my arms in the classic "I give up" motion, I turned and started making my way towards the living room, ready to accept my fate that I'd go hungry until Alyssa got back.

I wasn't even halfway into the room when Tenta suddenly popped right in front of me, holding out a cereal box that he miraculously managed to obtain with a small smirk. It was Honey Bunches of Oats. The cereal that I'd deliberately been ignoring that was right next to the Fruity Pebbles. Oats.

" _ **Oats."**_

" **...Yeah?"** The pink inkling asked, pressing the box against my chest as a silent way of asking me to take it.

" **Why oats,** Tenta."

" **I thought that's what you wanted!"** He whined, immediately pulling back the box and protectively clutching it in his arms.

" **I wanted the Fruity Pebbles!"** I retorted, " **Why the hell would you get Honey Bunches of Fucking Oats?!"**

Tenta looked offended, scoffing at my argument, " **That other cereal looked sugary as shit! I wanted to try eating a healthier breakfast!"**

" **Who cares about eating healthy breakfasts?!"**

" **I do!"**

" **The hell kind of teenager are you?!"**

" **A kind that gives somewhat of a crap about my health!"**

I rolled my eyes and shoved him back towards the kitchen, " **I don't know how you got to the cereal with the boxes being on top of the fridge, but if you can do it once you can do it again. Go get the Fruity Pebbles. Please."** Added a polite term for extra points.

Tenta groaned and trudged back into the kitchen, making sure to drag his feet constantly and make as much noise as possible to truly bring his disdain to light. I could see him give me a dirty glare as he disappeared behind a corner, hopefully about to get the right cereal this time.

In the meantime, I decided that I would go ahead and turn on the Wii U to pass the time. We'd played Splatoon for so long that I ironically was getting kinda sick of it despite being an inkling myself. What else could we play…?

Humming to myself, I made the absolute worst choice after surfing through our stack of games and obliviously inserted the game Nintendo Land into the disk slot, unprepared for the hell to come…

Tenta came walking out of the kitchen as I sat down on the couch with the controller on my lap. One bowl were in each of his hands, some milk sloppily dripping down the side of one of them. A yellow sticky note was on the inkling's forehead with some text written in sharpie on it, but it wasn't until Tenta handed it to me along with my cereal bowl that I could read what it said.

" **I found this on the box, I didn't know if it was important or not."** He informed, plopping down next to me on my right and beginning to chow down on his dumb 'Honey Bunches of Shit'.

I squinted down at the note as I held it to my face, struggling to read it since the text was so small and I still had blurry vision.

"Will-

Don't touch my fucking Fruity Pebbles.

I'll Fucking Kill You.

I'll Fucking Murder Your Face.

Eat shit.

Precious money went into this.

Love you,

Alyssa."

I stared at the note with a blank expression, then promptly tore it into pieces and tossed it onto the floor. The paper was all scattered, yet I was still very slightly intimidated by each and every piece.

" **It wasn't important."**

Tenta shrugged a shoulder while his mouth was full of the healthy cereal, " **Mmkay."** His tone sounded doubtful.

Holding a spoonful of Fruity Pebbles in one hand and my gamepad in the other, I selected Nintendo Land on the home menu and let it load. The disk inside the system started to whirl and come to life, finally being able to fulfill its purpose after many months of collecting dust.

Once the game loaded and music started blaring through the tv's speakers, digital cards covered the screen, each having their own individual icon that represented a game. Half of them I hadn't even touched yet (the ninja shuriken repulsed me) and the other half me and Alyssa broke each other's noses over. These games could get pretty fun and intense, but they were also deadly.

I selected the Donkey Kong Crash Course.

I handed the controller to Tenta.

" **Play."**

* * *

Admittedly, I was entirely hoping that I'd get to see Tenta shriek and groan in the exact same exasperated anger that I went through playing this same game. It wasn't fun when you were the one behind the controls, but being in the audience made the experience a thousand times more entertaining especially over hours of gameplay.

We had a slight intermission at some point late into the evening when we accidentally forgot to put our bowls in the sink once we finished eating, and Alyssa had come home after apparently hanging out with Cassedy and noticed the small chips and crumbs of Fruity Pebbles that were left in my bowl. Naturally, she fucking killed me and then fucking murdered my face. Twice. Thankfully, she didn't make me eat shit.

Tenta refused to help as I was screaming, by the way, laughing too hard at my misfortune to provide proper aid like a good friend. Maybe I should've gone with the healthier cereal like he did…

We eventually all calmed down after our fighting and sat on the couch together as we played various Nintendo Land games for hours, the sun quickly setting and leaving darkness in its place. We went through the multiplayer ones but somehow kept gravitating towards the Donkey Kong course thing. We'd die in the stupidest ways possible on that stage and yet we wanted more. One time we all started laughing because on one of Alyssa's turns, her springy thingamabob had exploded extremely violently into tiny little splintery pieces because she moved too fast. This game was unforgiving and it was worse that it was motion controlled.

It was currently Tenta's turn at this point, the pink inkling sticking his tongue out in focus as he gently guided his character along the course on his last life. Its little wheels squeaked as he tilted the gamepad to make it go up a steep ramp, and then he quickly turned it upright to avoid making the character fly into the wall like the last couple of tries. From there, he gently went down each step that made his character awkwardly bounce and us hold our breaths in anticipation.

He didn't even get to area two before his character exploded into tiny shards.

Alyssa and I guffawed at Tenta's stunned and bewildered expression, his open mouth and twitching eye the best part of all. The negative music that chimed from the speakers as he subsequently groaned was what took the cake, though.

" **What the fuck,"** He whispered under his breath as the results screen came up, " **Why is it so fragile? What did I even do?"**

" **You let go of 'R' too early!"** I cackled, taking the controller out of his hands since it was my turn.

I smirked and adjusted my position on the couch so that I was more upright, getting ready to restart the round with more lives and give it a go for myself.

" **Let a true master show you how it's done."**

" **You flew into the wall on your first try."**

I stuck my tongue out at him maturely, and he did the same right back. Alyssa rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath.

Then she sighed and slouched her shoulders, "Let's play something else instead."

As the introductory music played for the hundredth time in the game, I turned to her and gave her a look, "It's my turn."

She stood from the couch and stretched with a small yawn before moving to the Wii U that sat by the tv, "Too bad, let's play splat."

I frowned and fell back against the couch cushions as I pouted, "Nooooo…You can't do that."

Alyssa promptly turned off the system without a second beat and then gave me a wide grin, "I just did."

"What the _fuck,_ 'Lyss."

She shrugged as she hit the eject button, the system whirring back to life since it was a power trigger, "Tenta didn't seem to care, you can learn a lot from him."

I turned to Tenta to see if he actually didn't care about Alyssa changing games, but the pink inkling was completely distracted by a white feline curled up on his lap. When the hell did Salt get here? She may get herself stuck behind fridges but I swear she moves like a ninja. She was currently enjoying plenty of head scratches from Tenta's fingers, purring in delight as one hand pet her across her back and another provided some amazing pets.

Worst part about it was the bright, dumb, and genuine grin that was spread on his dumb face. Why does he love cats so much?

I turned back to Alyssa, "Tenta's in cat land right now."

"Case and point."

Rolling my eyes, I slouched back against the couch cushions even deeper and huffed roughly through my nostrils. I wasn't completely against playing splat but I wasn't too for it either. But it doesn't even matter, I never got my turn in Donkey Kong.

After my sister replaced the game with Splatoon, I reluctantly pressed the game's icon on the home menu and let it start booting up. I sighed absentmindedly as I thought about what to do for the day. Would we play battle dojo? Would I try out some ranked battles on this new account for once instead of blasting through turf wars? From what I could recall, we hadn't touched ranked modes at all and Alyssa barely played on her account before Tenta and I took over. Was she still at C-?

In all honesty, I was contemplating just giving Tenta the controller and letting him have at it. In the time we've played the game together, he was the one who was the most interested. He would always beg to keep going even after I already took the controller from him for my turn to play a match. And I'd give it right back extremely easily. Not because I'm a doormat, no, but Tenta turned into a fucking _beast_ in Splatoon.

I swear, he was like a wizard. On battle one he could barely operate the cameras correctly but over the next fifty or so battles the improvement shot up as fast as lightning. His fingers were constantly moving on the controller and all of his movements on screen were extremely precise. He'd easily carry his teammates to victory, the only times he'd ever lose being if he got multiple disconnects or if his teammates were absolute scrubs (or if he was goofing off/not paying attention). In short, he was entertaining to just watch as an audience member.

I sat back and focused on the tv screen, vision still as blurry as goddamn ever but I was still able to tell where the loading blue circle was. Speaking of which, does Splatoon usually take this long to load?

"...What's the deal? Why's it taking so long?" Alyssa piped up in an agitated voice after a full two minutes of us waiting. Daily, I'd only see that circle for at _most_ a full second or two. But now? It's just getting kinda ridiculous.

"Maybe there's some weird system error," I assured her, standing up to inspect the Wii U, "I'll restart it if it goes on for another minute."

I actually waited for two. We all sat in an awkward and tense silence as I eventually moved to press the power button, hoping that cutting the system off while it's loading wouldn't do any permanent damage to the files.

Suddenly, loud static started sounding out the speakers, both Alyssa and Tenta immediately cringing at the noise while still sitting on the couch. Salt instantly hopped onto her feet and bailed from the living room, clearly not willing to deal with whatever the hell we were doing.

"Turn it off! Turn it off!" Alyssa yelled over the noise, waving a hand and sounding panicked. Tenta started covering his ears, eyes darting between the tv and I as he frantically tried to understand what was going on.

I quickly pressed the power button to the Wii U, but heard no change. Then I mashed it repeatedly, muttering under my breath and not understanding why it wasn't turning off. I _am_ pressing the power button, aren't I? Red circle, little gap at the top with a vertical line in it? I know what the hell I'm doing, right?

Suddenly, the Wii U system started shaking violently, consistently vibrating against the wooden surface it laid on and scaring the shit out of me.

" **Alright. Okay! Okaaay."** I laughed nervously, nerves on the fritz as I backed away shakily from the possessed console.

Tenta stared at me with fearful wide eyes, " **What the** _ **fuck**_ **is going on,** Will **?!"**

I shook my head in a meek reply and took cover behind the couch as the console shook even harder, the static noise spiking up in volume until I could barely even hear my own thoughts. Tenta and Alyssa promptly did the same, the three of us peeking from behind it occasionally to see if there was any change from the possibly furious poltergeist haunting our electronics with its weird demonic powers.

Then, everything shut off. The tv, the Wii U...the lights, the power…

We all sat there in shocked silence, still hiding behind the couch as darkness surrounded all of us. I looked at Tenta, and then Alyssa, both of them looking pretty scared over whatever the fuck was happening.

Alyssa let out an cringy and awkward laugh as she started to stand up, "Haha...I think I'm gonna go ahead and bail on this house party. I don't fuck with whatever this is."

I peeked around the couch, noticing that despite there seeming to be no power in the entire house, the lights to the Wii U were all still on. It was the only thing that still had power.

I shuddered, still panting from nerves as I looked back at the other two, "The Wii U is still on."

My sister gave me a blank stare and so did Tenta, both for entirely different reasons.

"Okay, yeah. Okay."

Alyssa promptly stood up, walked to the door, put her shoes on, and turned the knob before heading outside, politely shutting the door behind herself.

" **Uhhh…"** Tenta uttered in a whispery voice, glancing between the door and me, " **What was that? Why'd your sister go?** _ **What the hell is going on?"**_

" **She bailed. We're on our own."**

Tenta stood up and walked to the door as well, putting his shoes on as well but with a bit of a struggle.

" **Nice plan. Let's do that too."**

I gave him an unamused look and crossed my arms, " **Fifteen steps outside that door and you'll be caught by our police and sent to scientists. Or worse, southerners will see you."**

" **That is a** _ **theory**_ **created by fiction!"** He argued, hand resting on the doorknob, " **Fifteen steps outside that door I could also end up becoming famous and everyone will love me!"**

" **Yeah. Test that theory. Call me later and tell me all how it went."**

Tenta oh so desperately wanted to retort, I could see it in his face as his lips opened and closed multiple times. He held up a finger and managed to get One syllable out before quickly closing his mouth and internally shutting down his idea. Then, he turned towards the door and looked like he was about to turn it…

Then he reluctantly turned around, sighed, and kicked his shoes off before slouching over grumpily and trudging back behind the couch, pouting the entire time.

" **Go ahead. I'm waiting."** I sang mockingly, waiting for him to step right out the door.

He only huffed through his nostrils and sent me a glare.

" **Exactly. You'd be cooked alive out there. Possibly even literally."**

Tenta snorted and shook his head, " **That won't happen. From what I know, humans are just like inklings except probably even tamer than us."**

" **A sentient species? More wild than us? I'll have to see it to believe it."**

He snickered and hid his mouth behind his hands, " **No-no. Really. Almost every splatfest we destroy the bulletin board that advertises it."**

" **...** _ **Why?...**_ "

He gave a comically exaggerated shrug and dissolved into a fit of giggles, " **I don't fucking** _ **know!"**_

We both sat there and laughed behind the couch, completely forgetting about any sort of problems that we should've tended to. Y'know, the problem that literally caused the power to cut off in our house.

" **And-And y'know how there's decorations and stuff everywhere for splatfests? Including stuff for the statues on top of the buildings in the plaza?"**

" **Uh-huuuh…"** I couldn't hide my smile.

" **We** _ **only**_ **volunteer to clean that stuff up so that we can climb the buildings!"**

" **What the** _ **fuck**_ **is wrong with your species."** Our species?

" **I don't fucking know! We're all idiots that care more about our looks and constantly playing turf wars!"**

I narrowed my eyes, " **I played as you, you do that exact thing."**

" **I never said** _ **I**_ **wasn't an idiot."**

I coughed to hide my growing grin behind my elbow, but Tenta clearly could see it and started laughing all over again.

" **You'll probably turn into an idiot, too! The inkling brain is something else, man."**

" **Good God…"** I whispered, pondering the thought of me slowly turning into a 'stereotypical' inkling. " **I can't see myself trying to be 'Fresh' like you do. And I'm barely active as it is."**

" **That's gonna change too! I've good at controlling myself most of the time so I'm not like most inklings, but this place has been driving me stir crazy."**

I sighed through my nostrils and rested my head on my elbow while resting my elbow on my knee, " **That's the fun part about being an alien in a foreign world."**

" **..."**

" **..."**

" **...** Will **."**

" **What?"**

Tenta sat up into proper posture, changing the atmosphere immediately by the serious expression on his face.

" **Did we really just forget about the tv and game console of doom that cut off the electricity and shook violently that we're taking shelter from?"**

" **...Oh."** Oops.

" **So are we gonna leave, or…?"**

I frantically shook my head and glanced around the couch. The lights on the Wii U were still on. Freaky.

" **Not an option. We gotta investigate."**

" **Whyyyyy?"** Tenta whined, ears tilting down to try and persuade me otherwise, " **I don't wanna get killed by the big, angry ghost that short circuited the entire house."**

" **Too bad, you gotta do it."** I demanded, firmly trying to push him from behind the couch.

He immediately fought back, shoving me in return, " **Why do I gotta do it? You're the human, you're the one that's used to the technology here!"**

I pushed him again, " **I'm not a human anymore, you and I both know that. Plus, you're older, so you gotta be the one to do it so that in case you die, I can grow up and create the future generation!"**

" **Shut the** _ **fuck**_ **up,** Will **."**

" **I-"** I wheezed out a small laugh, " **I'm just trying to...repopulate? Populate? Get started? I'm trying to start the inkling race on earth. Your sacrifice will be honored throughout inkling on earth history, I swear on it."**

Tenta narrowed his eyes and grabbed my wrist before promptly standing up and walking from behind the couch, dragging me along with him on the ground back to the Wii U. I was tempted to fight back and give him what's for, until I remembered that my arms are practically and almost literally made out of jelly.

Then he quickly picked me up via my armpits and plopped me down onto my feet right in front of the console.

" **Fix it."**

" **No."**

" **Fix it."**

" **No."**

" **Fix it."**

" **No."**

" **Fix it."**

" **No."**

" **Fix it."**

" **No."**

" **We're not getting anywhere with this, are we?"**

" **No."** I flashed him an absurdly bright smile.

" **Ugh."** Tenta groaned, shoving me aside and bending down in front of the Wii U to get a good look at it, squinting ever so slightly as if it'd help his concentration. He rubbed a finger under his chin and tilted his head to the side for a couple of seconds as he pondered on what to do.

Then, with a slight shrug, he reached up a finger and slowly pressed the power button one more time, wondering if that'd do anything.

Loud, screeching and high pitched static flooded the room once more for a quick millisecond and made us both grimace and cover our ears, fading away soon after and leaving a gentle hum in its place. The tv suddenly flashed back on, glowing nothing but a bright white with hints of static appearing here and there on the screen. It looked very...ominous. Foreboding. Like it was gonna suck us in.

Wait.

"Will... **I feel weird."** Tenta whispered as he backed from the tv, " **I don't like it."**

I was too busy gawking at the weird glowing to really pay attention to what he said. This…really didn't seem right. Wii U's shouldn't be capable of causing a power outage in your house and...doing whatever the fuck this was. What the _hell_ was going on?

Only one way to find out.

I pressed the power button to the Wii U again, just to see what would happen. To my surprise, the button wouldn't budge. I tried pressing it again and again, but it wouldn't give no matter how hard I pressed it. It was as if it was stuck all of a sudden, the Wii U couldn't turn off. What the fuck. What the fuck? WHAT THE _FUCK._

" **I really am starting to think a ghost is haunting our Wii U, man."** I uttered in pure horror, switching my attention back to the tv. The gentle hum never stopped, only increasing in volume over time and making our heartbeats pound faster and faster.

" **What do we do? What do we do?!"** Tenta panicked, looking at me for some sort of guidance.

" **Why are you looking at me?! I don't fucking know what to do!"** I yelled back, starting to regret coming from behind the couch. We were having a fun time back there.

Tenta glanced back at the tv and furrowed his brow, clearly debating something in his mind. He opened his mouth as if to say something but closed it right after. Then, he straightened his posture yet again, a determined glint in his eyes that wasn't there.

" **I'm…"**

" **What?"**

He took in a shaky breath and did his best to puff out his chest, " **I'm gonna touch it."**

I sent him a half lidded stare that screamed a thousand words.

He broke his fake 'brave hero' persona almost immediately and shoved me jokingly, " **I meant the tv screen this time!"**

" **Yeah. First you touched the console and produced hell to my ears. Now you're gonna touch the tv. Tell me how it goes, I'll be upstairs."**

Not giving me enough time to whirl around and rush up the stairs and to safety where I bet The Seasonings were, Tenta immediately curled his fingers into a fist and thrust it into the tv.

I instantly opened my mouth to scream over him damaging something that costed my brother so much money, but then I realized that he had thrusted it into the tv.

Into the tv.

Into the tv.

 _Into_ the tv.

" **Uh…"** Was all I could muster up as I gawked at the sight. Tenta looked stunned too, neither of us able to comprehend the fact that the tv was _swallowing Tenta's hand whole._

" **Well…"** Tenta started, slowly pulling his hand out and inspecting it for any differences, " **This isn't the strangest thing that has happened to me."**

I rolled my eyes, " **I know. I played as you. I know the whole Agent Three shtick."**

" **...Right."**

Stepping up to the television myself, I could feel an odd pulling sensation as I took in a deep breath to calm my nerves and slowly stuck my hand into the...screen? Does it qualify as a screen at this point?

After a few seconds of leaving it in there, I could feel that it was...a little chilly in there? But nothing painful was happening. It was safe. Probably.

I stuck my whole arm in and tried to feel around for anything. I could feel my fingers come in contact with relatively cool...objects. And fabric? I was bending my arm a certain way and I could feel carpet. It had a very generic carpet texture, feeling like that white kind that was nice to just lay down and take a nap on.

I slowly took my arm out of the...tv portal? and inspected it to make sure nothing was up with it. Everything was still in order, I pinched myself both to inspect if the nerves were working and to see if I was even awake.

I turned to address Tenta and discuss our next plan of action, but I managed to catch him in the middle of gasping in a deep breath and instantly shoving his head inside the tv out of nowhere.

I'll be honest, I screamed. I was fully expecting the worst to happen since horror movies love to pull that shit, but nothing happened. His body didn't go slack, the tv didn't cut off, no pink blood...Everything was fine?

…

…

Tenta's been in there for a while.

Stepping a little closer to him (his body?), I slowly reached up a finger and gently tapped him on his shoulder. Just to check if he was actually still alive.

It took him a second, but he eventually pulled his head out of the weird portal thing. He looked. Shocked. Stunned. His face was completely frozen, eyebrows raised and eyes wide while facing completely forward, unmoving.

"Tenta **? You good? Are you okay?"** I questioned him worriedly out of concern. He didn't necessarily look upset or anything, but I still wanted to make sure he didn't actually get a glimpse of some gorey torture or something.

" **Ismuffabbmernm…"** He muttered completely inaudibly under his breath.

" **Huh?"**

" **It's my apaRTMENT! IT'S MY APARTMENT!** _ **IT'S MY APARTMENT!"**_ Tenta squealed, the inkling hopping up and down erratically in place from excitement. He was constantly shaking and vibrating, shuffling from foot to foot as he struggled to keep his happiness contained.

I was about to reply some sort of congrats, but he suddenly took off running in various directions around our furniture, yelling out different phrases such as 'I'm going home!,' 'It's my apartment!' and 'I get to see my friends again!' and even the rare 'I didn't get evicted!'. He was laughing and twirling as he sprinted throughout the entire house, running up the stairs one moment and then somehow running up them again just seconds later. I never realized just how much pent up energy he must've had, plus all this excitement was enough for him to run multiple laps around a gigantic house!

It took a solid five minutes for him to even remotely calm down. By the time he got back to me, one of his suction cups was attached to his cheek, Salt was sitting on his head and looking frazzled, and he was panting rather heavily with the largest toothy grin I've ever seen on his face. He was fucking _glowing_ with delight at this point despite the beads of sweat starting to prickle along his forehead. He definitely couldn't wait to go home.

I was so happy for him.

" **My apartment! My apartment,** Will **!"** He cheered again, taking Salt off of his head and wrapping his arms tightly around her, " **I'm gonna go home! I missed it all so much!"**

I gave him a glad smile and nodded my head, " **I know you did. You should go ahead and hop in!"**

Frantically nodding in agreement, Tenta practically _tossed_ Salt to the floor, eager to get her out of his hands so he could hop into the portal and get himself home already. Before he climbed in however, he held his hand out to me for some reason.

" **Let's go in together."**

" **..."** I stared at the extended hand in surprise, not expecting that at all. I was fully prepared to see Tenta hop into the portal by himself and for it to close and that be it, but…

I shook my head and reluctantly pushed his hand down to deny his offer, " **I...I can't."**

He made an incredulous expression, definitely not expecting me to turn down the offer, " **You can't…? Why not? You can stick your arm in the portal."**

I gestured to the rest of the house with a solemn smile, " **This. This is my home. I can't go with you,** Tenta **. It wouldn't be right."**

" **Bu-But you're an inkling!"** He argued, almost seemingly starting to tear up, " **You gotta come! You'd be the only inkling here!"**

" **Yeah but,"** I struggled to think of a proper argument, " **You** _ **belong**_ **at your home. I belong here. Even if I'm an inkling now, who says I'll be an inkling later? Maybe you're the reason why I'm an inkling. I bet if you go in that portal and wait a couple seconds, I'll be human and it'll close and we can move on!"**

Tenta didn't seem to like that argument.

Without even a goodbye, he shook his head and bent his knees, squatted into a jumping position before springing himself into the tv in one smooth motion, disappearing in an instant. I was sorta expecting the television and Wii U to cut off right then and there, no further shenanigans. I watched my hands to see if they would shrink and felt my head to see if it was still like a bobblehead, but there was no change.

After a full minute of no changes happening, Tenta stuck his head out of the portal and made eye contact with me, his bright, lime green eyes having that same determined glint as earlier. His arm appeared soon after, hand again extended out to me.

" **Let's go."** He insisted, a soft smile on his face. " **The portal isn't closing, so I think you're supposed to come with me."**

I backed away at first, unable to form a response on what I wanted to say. I mean, I really wanted to say yes and go in without a second thought. Unfortunately, I was having a shitload of second thoughts. What about my siblings? What would Alyssa think, coming home to find her brother missing? What would _Terrell_ think? He sends his friends to check on us constantly, within a few days he'll know what's going on, if not sooner from the amount of phone calls I won't answer. What about school? It's the middle of summer vacation, what if I lose track of time in Tenta's home and end up accidentally dropping out? What if someone gets in trouble for my decision?

Yet...the pros outweighed the cons. In my perspective, it was a chance for me to start over. I could possibly make new friends and make new first impressions instead of being the quiet kid at the lunch table in the corner nobody sat with. I could finally have a friend I could hang out with regularly in life and not have to rely on social interactions via computer all the time. I could finally get my life together and experience a whole different culture! Nonetheless a fictional one!

Why would I pass that up? Especially since that it's a _fictional culture!_ In my _favorite goddamn video game!_

Closing my eyes and feeling my droopy ears twitch ever so slightly, I made up my mind.

I walked up to Tenta and opened my mouth, making the decision that would greatly alter my life either for the better, or for the worse.

" **Let me grab my laptop."**

I quickly darted up the stairs and to my room, immediately locating my beloved laptop on the floor and in sleep mode. After I unplugged its charger from the wall and wrapped it up around itself, I decided that just taking my laptop wouldn't be a good idea. I needed my phone, too. And maybe my 3DS? I never really showed Tenta any of the games up there, actually. Maybe I could get the actual Squid Sisters to play a real copy of Animal Crossing instead of whatever salvaged data the inklings must've dug up from human remains.

Snorting at the idea of the Squid Sisters hitting each other with nets, I picked up all the mentioned tech as fast as I could before hurrying downstairs and to the television for Maybe the last time in my life. I handed Tenta each of my things for him to put in his apartment until I had nothing left in my arms. The only thing left that was needed to transport was...Me.

I was still a little worried and probably overthinking everything, but I still really _really_ wanted to do it. So many consequences could come out of this but this was possibly a once in a literal _trillion_ chance of a lifetime or something! Why would I pass this up?

With the slightest bit of hesitation that remained due to my fears, I reached up my hand and grabbed onto Tenta's in a solid grip, letting him yank me into a whole new world.

I was going to be fucking obliterated by life if I ever managed to go back later.

* * *

By the time Alyssa got back to the house, it was well into the night but not too late. She'd spent the next couple of hours at Cassidy's house, taking refuge there after the freaky stuff went down. It was a little awkward when she randomly turned up at their door, but she was welcomed in without a fuss since she'd come so many times before.

As soon as she walked back into the door, which was unlocked for some dumb reason, all the lights in the house flickered back on and startled her into backing out onto the porch. As the A/C whirled and came to life to create the designated background noise, she swallowed her fear and walked into the house, shutting the door behind her but leaving her shoes on in case she needed to bail again for any reason.

Stepping further into the living room, she could see that the tv was on and the sound of static in a gentle hum was coming from the speakers, which really spooked the hell out of her. She looked around for a moment, not spotting any signs of life anywhere.

"Will?" She called out, her voice echoing ominously throughout the house. There was no answer.

"Will? Are you there?"

No answer.

"Will! Answer me, man! You definitely didn't run outside the house, I know you better than that. Where are you?"

Silence.

Alyssa shuddered, dread starting to flood her body. She was getting unnerved. Where the hell was her brother?

"This really isn't cool, Will. Where are you?"

…

"Will? William!"

…

…

"...Tenta!?" She called out weakly in a last ditch effort, realizing that they definitely weren't in the house. From how much she was yelling, even if they were simply home and asleep, they would've easily came out of their room and addressed her thanks to their acute hearing. Something was definitely going on. Alyssa really didn't like what she was seeing.

Stepping closer to the television, she narrowed her eyes suspiciously as a strange feeling started to overcome her. She leaned in closely to the screen, sensing something...pulling her? She wished that she was hallucinating, she really did. But she knew what she felt, and it was definitely a sense of being tugged.

Raising her hand, Alyssa steadily held it toward screen closer and closer, wondering why the feeling was growing stronger within her as she got close to the screen. She was so close to touching it, it was just a millimeter awa-

The tv screen abruptly cut off right before she was about to touch it, the tugging feeling disappearing with it. Alyssa blinked in confusion, not understanding what the hell just happened. What just happened?

A sudden, small noise to her left caught her attention, and she turned her head to see the Wii U spitting out the Splatoon disc inside it by itself. By itself.

By itself.

Alyssa was too stunned to react as the game disc eventually fell to the carpet floor, rolling along the ground until it somehow reached her feet, falling to the floor with its shiny side up once it came into contact with her shoes. Holding her breath, Alyssa bent down and slowly picked it up with the utmost care, turning it over to see the other side.

In place of the pattern of green and purple squids with blank expressions, it instead was replaced with the pattern of pink and purple squids, each of them with expressive eyes that fit both Will and Tenta's personalities…

Alyssa slowly looked back up at the television, unsure what to do or what to make of what in the world was on the game disc.

She shook her head in a daze and made her way upstairs, holding the disc in her hands as delicately as she could, wondering if she went on some weird crack binge and didn't remember planning it out.

What the hell was her brother _doing?_

More importantly, where would she even _find_ crack?

* * *

 **Surprise! It's me! Happy new year yall! Welcome to 2019!**

 **I kinda shat out this chapter in a bit of a hurry bc I REAAALLY wanna get this story's pace moving a little faster. Things are starting to get Juicy yall! I hope this is what yall were waiting for, bc it sure is for me!**

 **I'm trying to avoid making this a very...cliche? human in inkopolis story. I want to focus on more than just the turf wars or the story mode, I wanna focus on actual inkling culture itself. I have a bunch of headcanons (which are mostly made up with Canon facts) that I wanna implement in this story and I hope that yall will enjoy them!**

 **Anyway, my plans for 2019 are to get some more small stories shat out so I can get my ideas out of my damn head for once. I already got one on AO3 but I really want to touch it up a bit before I upload it here. I have two more stories after that, one being pretty short and another possibly being a long series? I'm struggling with what the plot will be, though.**

 **I hope this chapter is up to yalls standards and I hope you all enjoyed it!**

 **Contact me via my tumblr or twitter if yall wanna talk for some reason, both of them are chubbidust (there's a good chance I won't respond if it's just a simple "hi" though!)**


	14. first hours in splatoon

**Since the characters are in an environment where English isn't spoken, their speech is no longer bolded and any English word is in bold unless stated otherwise.**

* * *

As soon as Tenta yanked me into the tv, my whole world went white.

Then off white. Because I tripped over myself once I was pulled through and face planted right onto the carpet floor.

What a way to start a life in Inkopolis, isn't it?

I could hear Tenta snickering behind me as I pushed myself up from the carpet and spat out a couple of fibers that ended up in my mouth. As I shook my head to knock off any dirt that may have gotten onto my face, I began to look around Tenta's apartment.

In my immediate surroundings I could see a generally well furnished room. There was an off white couch, a chair a little ways away from it, and a rug that had the weirdest pattern of jellyfish and cocktails scattered all over it. The carpet itself wasn't very dirty, though various pieces of small wrappers and trash littered the space around us. Posters decorated the walls, featuring a variety of bands, some of which I was sure wasn't featured in official Nintendo social media despite my fuzzy vision making them nearly into an incoherent blurry mess. Most of the posters that covered the walls looked like they featured Callie and Marie, unsurprisingly. Tenta was definitely a fan of theirs based on just how many damn posters there were.

"You got a lotta Squid Sister's merch, huh?" I murmured as I peered around the area. There was a shelf up towards the ceiling that looked like it had a whole bunch of shoeboxes. Weird, but kind of expected since in the starting screen of splat, the inkling that lives in that room has shelves with shoeboxes too.

Tenta shrugged and started picking up the wrappers along the ground and tidying up, "They're two of my favorite people. Sorry about the mess, by the way. I didn't really plan for there to be company."

I waved a dismissive hand and made my way to the couch, plopping myself onto it and sagging into the cushions as comfortably as I could. As Tenta picked up the trash and briefly exited the room, I glanced at a nearby window a little ways to my right and could see that it was night time, just like how it was 12,000 years ago. Or back at home…? This dimensional time stuff was so confusing. In this world, would my sister currently be dead? Would everyone I knew be dead? ...Is there possibly a human version of me buried in the dirt right now? What the fuck.

As I delved deep into my thoughts and started having a bit of a crisis, I could feel Tenta sit down next to me. We sorta just chilled there for a couple of minutes, really taking in what was going on. I was a human in an inkling's body, now in Inkopolis (Maybe? We were in an apartment and the only apartments I knew were Flounder Heights, which are a little ways away from the city.), and Tenta was an inkling who was in a human household for a while, now hosting a human turned inkling in his apartment. It sounded so absurd, but it was happening. We were practically in some sort of fan work, going through the fantasies of some random Splatoon fan in the world. And frankly, I was happy that everything was going great for now.

After a few more minutes of just sitting and chilling, Tenta turned to me and tilted his head, looking curious. His lime colored eyes looked right into mine as a small grin spread across his slightly rosy cheeks.

"What's the first thing you wanna do here?"

I stared at him for a couple moments, then looked up at the ceiling as I pondered what I wanted to do. I gave it some serious thought, debating on what activity I would've liked to do since I was literally in my favorite video game. There was plenty of things to participate in and do. I could try out doing turf wars. I could look at the Squid Sisters. I could meet Cap'n Cuttlefish. I could see one of the little jellyfish that only went up to inkling's waists! Only one problem…

"It's like two in the morning. Let's sleep."

Tenta gaped at me for a moment, then briefly looked around for a clock and couldn't find one. He looked miffed for a second, then hunched his shoulders as he huffed and accepted defeat. I was right, it was too late to do anything. No activities would be going on at this hour and everyone would be asleep, save for a few night owls. I'm personally a night owl myself, but I really wanted to just get some damn sleep so I could wake up and get my new life in Inkopolis started in the _day_.

With a soft frown, Tenta stood from the couch and took my hand, pulling on it while pointing a thumb toward one of the doorways in the room.

"Let me at least show you around my place. You're gonna be living with me for a while, anyway."

Reluctantly, I let him tug me off the couch and onto my feet, which were already tired from Pre-Tour Exhaustion. His apartment was a pretty decent size, considering he used to live alone before I came in. He showed me his kitchen, which had brown, wooden cabinets and a little sink that had only two dishes stacked up in it. Then he showed me his bathroom, a little small but definitely not cramped. Everything in there was organized comfortably and we both easily fit in there with no trouble.

Next was the guest bedroom, which wasn't a guest bedroom. Since Tenta had been living by himself, he'd apparently decided to just use it as his 'game room' instead. Bean bags for seats were piled in a corner, high tech looking game controllers were all over the floor, their cords tangled up around each other and all of them connected to a single system and tv. A little ways away from the game console was a desk with a chair tucked under it, a full desktop computer in sleep mode tangled up in the desk as well.

Finally, there was Tenta's bedroom. Posters were everywhere, including the ground (He said that it probably fell off the wall while he was gone, he'd always had trouble with hanging that one up). More shelves were in one corner of the room, more showboxes in some of the cubbies with action figures and silly, childlike toys in the others. I could see one or two trophies in one of the slots, too, the statue being an inkling in a dynamic pose while shooting a splattershot. Another tv was in the room, too, right on top of a dresser with six drawers.

As I pondered on what kind of two a.m. commercials they'd play in this world, Tenta darted past me and immediately belly-flopped onto his bed, moaning in delight as the blankets molded to his form. His limbs were sprawled out across the entire bed, his feet hanging off the edges and one of his socks was halfway off of his foot. His tentacles were just like his limbs, flopped around his head in a chaotic manner as he buried his face into the mattress in pure joy.

"Rmm ymm shmmrm am ymm drmrm mamm drm armmymm?" Tenta mumbled, face still in his pillow and absolutely impossible to understand.

"What?"

He lifted his head and rested his cheek on the pillow instead, "Are you sure you don't wanna do anything? Something small? Like going out and getting a bite?"

I shook my head, "I don't really want to go out right now, I'm ready to just conk out and do everything during the day."

Tenta visibly deflated, a dull frown replacing his hopeful grin as he sighed and again shoved his face into his pillow. I stared at him for a little bit, my droopy ears tilting down a tad as I realized I probably wasn't going about this right. I _should_ do something, even if it's a small activity. Something to jumpstart my experience in the Splatoon world. Something that I've forgotten to do ever since I became an inkling..something like…

After a few minutes, I realized that I actually kinda did want to do something that I definitely should've done a long time ago.

Stepping over to Tenta's bed, I gently nudged his foot and watched as he lifted his head and flipped over onto his back, staring up at me expectantly.

"Teach me how to change my color." I said, scooting onto the side of the bed he wasn't occupying.

With a wide grin, Tenta immediately sat up and shuffled closer to me, fixing his tentacles so that they were right by the sides of his face rather than sprawled out in odd directions.

"Okay, so- Inklings can change to any color we want," Tenta instantly got started, almost talking as if he were an enthusiastic elementary school teacher, "and it's so easy for us that we can even do it with our eyes closed."

I gave him a confused look, "We can?"

He nodded erratically, hands constantly moving as he gestured to emphasize his meaning, "Yeah! Inklings have this-uh...this...this magnetic organ thing in our bodies? It lets us sense our surroundings and inklings with the same ink color. We can sense inklings of other colors, too, but it takes more focus, which is why we don't really do it in battle."

Mechanics from the game flashed in my mind, reminding me of different facts that I learned on my own when playing, "But we can sense them a lot more easily if they're covered in our ink, right?"

He nodded again, "Right! And when changing colors, we use that organ thing to sense the colors around us and we just...change to it! You don't have to think about it much, it just happens."

I was a little skeptical, I couldn't deny it.

"I haven't sensed anything in my whole time of being an inkling. Maybe it's 'cause I'm part human?" I muttered curiously, playing with the fabric of the blankets.

Tenta made a curious expression, seeming almost confused by my interjection. He frowned and glanced down at the blankets for a minute, pondering on what to do next. Then, he quickly looked back up at me and I could see his gaze lock onto the lone tentacle that rested by the right side of my face.

Then, out of nowhere he thrusted his arms out and grabbed my wrists, directing my hands to his own tentacles and forcing me to touch them. I was about to protest and ask what the hell he was doing, but he quickly spewed out his reasoning in a very vague and faintly disturbing manner.

"Close your eyes."

I sent him a glare for his sporadic act, but reluctantly closed my eyes anyway.

"...Okay, now what?"

"Focus on your fingers and try to feel something. They taught us a little like this in preschool."

Huffing through my nostrils, I complied with Tenta's advice and furrowed my brow, doing my best to focus on my fingers. I could feel his tentacles in my grasp, their moist and almost slimy texture was rather unique. They moved ever so slightly as I rubbed my thumb on one of them, really doing my best to understand this whole 'sensing surroundings' thing.

Still feeling nothing, I grunted softly and tried to focus a little harder. All I was getting was a black space, I couldn't feel anything that was foreign or something I hadn't experienced as a human. I could feel the faint blow of the A/C on the back of my neck, along with the fabric of the blankets rubbing against my legs. I could feel Tenta's warm hands on my wrists, and I could feel his legs occasionally change positions.

I also could hear many things too, all the sounds were much more noticeable than when I was human. I could hear people walking in the hallways of the building, chatting as they stepped by Tenta's door. I could hear the faint buzzing of a fly in the living room, probably around the sink with the two dishes that had bits of food around them. I could hear Tenta's slightly quickened breath as he wondered if something was going to happen. I could hear the crickets outside, which made me wonder how they survived the Great Flood that killed all humans. I could hear someone jamming out to a song upstairs, dancing to the beat and singing to lyrics they barely knew. I could hear…a...hum?

My ears twitched as I registered the faint humming that I hadn't thought about, but I could somehow feel that it'd been there for a while. Was I somehow just ignoring it? It was there, I could hear it. Except...I didn't hear it. It wasn't a sound, but it _felt_ like a sound. Kinda? I'm really trying my best to explain it, but it's not easy. It's as hard as trying to explain sight to a blind person, or hearing to deaf.

I did my best to fix all my attention on the humming, tuning out all other senses. My ears were working to their max as I listened to the sound, realizing it was an extremely foreign noise I'd never heard before. And it was so faint, I definitely never would've heard it if I hadn't taken the time to hone in on it like this. Except now, since it was the only thing I was listening to, it was louder than ever.

Licking my dry lips, I figuratively tried to get closer to the sound. It...sorta worked? This experience is hard to put into words, as is most senses that people experience. I was so close to the humming, I could almost taste it. As I arched my brow and gave one last attempt to concentrate on the sound, it slammed right into my face and changed my perception of the world forever. What used to be one of the faintest sounds, was now one of the loudest things in the room. Everything was humming and it was So. Fucking. _Weird._

I swear, I practically unlocked a skill just like in a video game. Everything was humming now. Everything. I could feel it all. I could sense the shoebox in the second highest shelf in the right corner closest to the door. I could sense the wiggling jellyfish tapping on a phone just outside the apartment. I could sense all of the clothes in Tenta's closet and his shoes that were haphazardly thrown in there. I could sense...Everything.

Remembering my primary objective, I concentrated on the being right in front of me, Tenta himself. What used to be nothing but a slimy, weird flesh bag of ink in my hands was now the pinkest, loudest sensation I had ever felt. My nerves were screaming at me that what I was holding, was full of pink ink. I didn't even _know_ I had nerves that could do that.

While concentrating on Tenta's pink tentacles, I could sense my own tentacles and just how...purpley they were. With a quick twitch of my ear, I tried to focus on the pink in Tenta's tentacles and match it to my own. I felt a warmth bloom at the top of my back and quickly dart up to my head, filling it with a fuzzy and soothing...soup. Immediately after, the warmth went back down into the rest of my body, flooding my body with a happy cosiness that made me feel surprisingly at peace.

I opened my golden eyes, staring right into Tenta's bright green. A wide smile of pride was spread from ear to ear on his face, his eyes almost sparkling as he bounced excitedly in his seat.

"You did it! You did it!" He squealed, taking his hands off my wrists and squishing my cheeks with them instead. Almost immediately after, he removed his hands and gently cupped my side tentacle, the grin never faltering as he fiddled with my tentacle and held it up into my field of vision.

Pink.

Pink!

"It's pink…" I gasped in awe, even though I already knew based on Tenta's reaction that I had changed the color. It was still such a marveling sight to me, seeing my own tentacle being pink instead of purple after so long. It was the exact same hue as Tenta's, a very vibrant and saturated pink that would remind you of sweet strawberry starbursts. At the very tip I could see a faint hint of purple, slowly fading away to make room for the pink ink until I couldn't see it anymore. So this was how inklings changed their color...

"It never really hit me on just how fucking _cool_ inklings are," I whispered with amazement as the warm feeling slowly faded away, "I jus-I can feel _everything!_ Only when I focus but- I thi- this is so fucking _cool!"_

"I just wish I got it on video! It'd be cool to document your experiences being an inkling for the first time!" Tenta cheered, seemingly looking around for something. "I just gotta find out where my...phone...is." He trailed off, remembering that his gear was taken off the first day in our house and his phone was likely in his pocket.

I winced and looked the other way, "Oops. Guess we kinda forgot all about your stuff, huh? Maybe we can go back and get it? And your hero gear, too."

Tenta shrugged and rolled his shoulders a bit, "Yeah, we can go back when we get up in the morning. I'll need a new phone, though, it's practically in shards and has no use whatsoever. Oh _fuck-_ that means I'll have to reinstall everything! Noooooooo."

I watched him visibly deflate again, flopping backwards onto the bed with a loud and exaggerated groan. He kicked his legs a few times in frustration in childlike anger before eventually sighing and staring up at the ceiling blankly.

After a few moments, he looked back down at me, "We should probably get ready for bed."

I whined and copied his earlier mini tantrum, "I don't like showering thooough."

He instantly sat up and darted off the bed, jogging to the bedroom door and looking back at me with a joyful expression.

"You're gonna like this kind."

Again yanking me off of the bed and shoving me out the door, Tenta quickly showed me the bathroom that he literally showed me ten minutes ago, this time planning on giving me a more in depth explanation of everything.

"This-" He patted a little compartment that was built into the shower just a little ways away from the bathtub, "-is the ink powder container."

I gave it a curious look, "A what?"

"Ink powder." He repeated, sliding it open just like a drawer, some of the white powder that was inside falling out onto the ground. "It mixes with the water that you're provided with and makes baths a lot more comfortable for us. It's what I meant that time when I said ' **Ink Bath'.** Just remember to check it everyday so you don't accidentally splat yourself if you run out."

He then pulled up a finger, licked it (which was a red flag), stuck it into the powder (which was another red flag), and held it out to me with a bunch of it coating his finger tip (a boutique of red flags).

"Here, try some. It's actually edible." He offered, an odd and extremely suspicious smile on his face.

I glanced at his face and didn't see anything absolutely malicious with a clear desire to kill me, so I decided to trust him and taste a bit of it.

Bad Idea.

I sputtered all over the bathroom floor and came close to retching as the absolute worst, motherfucking taste coated my tongue. It tasted like poison mixed with bleach with a hint of snake venom or something. And weirdly, a hint of mint.

"Mother _fucker!"_ I hissed as I spat out the awful powder, sending Tenta a death glare, "You di-You didn't just get me to eat something poisonous, did you?! Not cool!"

The other inkling was cackling so hard he was coughing his lungs out, that odd smile having turned into that familiar shit-eating grin I knew and hated.

"Nope! It's edible! I didn't say it tasted _good!_ " He wheezed, weakly patting my shoulder in a small attempt to apologize.

Still a little pissed, I grabbed one of the toilet paper rolls that was in the sink's cabinets and threw it at his forehead. Except, I missed and hit him straight in the face, Tenta sharply cutting off his laughter with a loud yelp as the toilet paper collided with his nose and fell to the floor. A small red spot was on the bridge of his nose and he briefly rubbed it with his fingers before falling back into a giggling fit.

"Wanna see me snort it?" He snickered, raising his hand back over the compartment while looking back at me, 100 percent knowing I would absolutely object.

I raised my arms in a questioning gesture, "Why the hell would you snort it?"

He shrugged and slowly started dipping his hand in, "It's good stuff."

I promptly moved his hand and shut the container while staring him right in the eye.

"Please teach me something other than the shower powder." I muttered, determined not to have a drugged Tenta in the apartment with me at two in the morning.

He laughed at my arupt topic change but decided to go with it, pick up one of the shampoo bottles on the edge of the bathtub.

"This is a tentacle cleaner."

" _What."_

"It-" He giggled, covering his mouth with a hand, "It's a tentacle cleaner. Tentacles are actually mostly self cleaning, but we like the refreshing feeling and scent of shampoo so we use it now to smell good. It's very nice and leaves your tentacles a lot healthier than they would be without it."

"You sound like a commercial."

He ignored me, instead choosing to more closely inspect the bottle, turning it in his hands, "This one has a strawberry scent, but I wanna eventually get a lime scented one. Maybe I'll get a grape one for you, since your resting color 's purple."

I made a grabby motion for the bottle and he handed it to me, so I got to inspect it myself. A cartoon picture of an inkling flaunting their tentacles was the first thing I saw, strawberries acting as a border around the image. A bunch of text was there that I couldn't understand at all, some more bold than others. Curious, I snapped open the lid of the bottle and sniffed it for a second, for some reason needing to prove that it was actually strawberry scented. It was. Vividly.

"How do you clean your tentacles, anyway? I've kinda just been awkwardly scrubbing it with a rag. Not fun." I asked as I handed the bottle back to him, looking around to see if he had any 'tentacle cleaning looking tools' in the bathroom hung up somewhere.

"It's really easy, actually." He explained, squirting a little bit of the shampoo onto his hand, "They sell these really soft rags that are meant for tentacles since they're a little sensitive, and you just put some of the shampoo on the tentacle and then gently scrub."

He then smacked his hand against my tentacle with a soft _plalppht_ as the cool shampoo splattered all over my tentacle.

I stared at him with half lidded eyes, doing my best to seem unamused despite the good comedic timing of it. He stared at me right back with a blank expression, something that was oddly hilarious at this time of night.

After literally thirty solid seconds of us staring at each other, we both simultaneously snorted and broke out into laughter. Every second we were getting closer and closer to three a.m. and as a result we were closer to losing our minds due to sleepy loopiness. My laughter had been cut short by a yawn, which really told me how tired I was. Had my eyes always ached this much?

"Anyway-" Tenta eventually continued after we got over our small laughing fit, "You just scrub the shampoo all on the tentacle with the rag and then rinse it off with the ink water. Don't forget to scrub in the suction cups, they're more sensitive but they're like the perfect area for bacteria to build up a bit."

"Sweet." I murmured, rubbing my eyes with my hands to wake myself up a bit since sleepiness was really starting to set in, "Can I shower first? I really feel like I'm gonna pass out any second now."

"Yeah, sure." Tenta nodded and started heading out the door, "I'll give you some of my clothes for pajamas. They might be a little big, though."

"Yeah, I'm tiny. I know."

…

Tenta was trying so hard to hold back his laughter.

"Don't."

"Y-"

"No."

"B-"

"Out. Get out."

Wheezing out a hard laugh, Tenta quickly darted out the bathroom and slammed the door behind himself before I could forcibly push him out myself. Once he was gone, I quickly locked the door and turned back to the bathtub.

In the span of a couple minutes I managed to remove my clothes and get myself in the tub with little issue. When I turned on the faucet, I briefly felt a moment of dread but was pleasantly surprised to see that the water definitely wasn't water. It...looked a lot like water? It was clear just like it, but I could tell by the texture that it definitely was a little thicker, almost as thick as ink itself. It was really nice to soak in compared to the awful feeling of water going over my skin and tentacles.

After a little while of just happily soaking in the bathtub and almost falling asleep because of it, I began to actually wash myself and realized just how dirty I really was. Due to being an inkling back at home, I would always take like 20 second showers and never really sat down and scrubbed myself clean. As a result, I never noticed how much dirt I accumulated over time and felt disgusted with myself over how gross I let my body become.

Eventually, though, I managed to scrub all the dirt off and felt genuinely clean and fresh for the first time in forever. Scrubbing my tentacles was nice, too. The light scent of strawberries reminded of me of starbursts the entire time I used the shampoo and I was never more ready to fall asleep from how nice it was. Subconsciously, I slowly slipped down into the tub until everything under my nose was under the inky water because of how comfortable I was.

And then I fell asleep.

…

…

Tenta knocked at the door and woke me back up with a start

" **Will-ee?** I got your clothes! Do you want me to come in and put them by the sink while you're in the bath? Or do you wanna have me to hand them to you once you're done from behind the door?"

"Uhh…" I answered intelligently as I quickly rinsed myself off and unplugged the drain, "You can hand them to me, I'll get them in a sec."

I almost slipped on the edge of the tub when I clambered out in a slight hurry, which would've been a gigantic disaster if I actually did. It was a jarring change when the cool air whirled around my wet skin and almost instantly caused me to shiver. I quickly grabbed a towel off from one of the cabinets in the sink and wrapped it around my waist before unlocking the door, greeting Tenta on the other side.

"Er-You could've dried off a little before you opened the door," He joked upon seeing me, clothes wrapped up in a neat pile in his arms. "There wasn't any rush, even though you were in there for almost thirty minutes."

"Whoops-" I _was_ a little bit in a rush, "I wasn't really thinking about it. I was actually starting to fall asleep because that was the first bath I've had in years. The smell of strawberries didn't help much, either."

Tenta smiled as he handed me the pajamas, "Yeah, it's nice, isn't it? Maybe we should go to an inkling bathhouse sometime, a lot of people do once they finish their daily battles."

As I went to shut the door, I sent him a questioning look, "Bathhouse?"

Tenta gave me the same expression, "Do you not know what a bathhouse is? Did humans not have those?"

"Uh…" I searched my mind for any sort of instance that I may have heard the term somewhere, but nothing came up, "Nope. Is it a furniture store for bathtubs?"

"It's-Um…," Tenta looked like he was about to explain, but quickly faltered, "I think I'd rather tell you when you're not wet, naked, and borderline about to collapse where you stand."

...

Right.

Quickly taking the clothes out of his arms and shutting the door, I unwrapped the towel from my waist and dried myself off within the span of ten seconds. I then put on the pajamas, which were very nice and fuzzy. What looked to be a superhero logo was on the dark blue, short sleeved shirt that I was given, which matched with the darker blue pants that had the same logo in a repeating pattern. The clothes were a size too large just like Tenta said they would be, but they were still a comfortable fit.

Tossing the damp towel I used and my dirty clothes into a nearby hamper, I stepped out of the bathroom feeling better than ever. Everything on me felt really clean and perfect, and I smelled like strawberries. I was living the life in luxury. What's more luxurious than smelling like strawberries?

After standing in front of the bathroom doorway for ten seconds, I immediately turned to my right and walked right past Tenta (who was trying to get my attention) and into his bedroom. I then promptly climbed onto the bed and face planted right into a pillow, completely knocked out before my head even touched it.

* * *

I stirred awake from a deep sleep as I felt shifting along the bed, opening my eyes to complete darkness. Due to my drowsiness, I completely forgot where I was in the moment and almost lost my mind, but then the memories instantly came back to me. I focused on my surroundings for a split second and could tell that it was Tenta on the bed behind me, smelling like fresh strawberries which must've meant he'd recently gotten out of the shower.

"...Welcome to the land of blankets and snuffles, may I take your order?" I mumbled out of nowhere, still feeling like I was going through a fever dream thanks to the drowsiness.

"...What?" Was the confused reply I got back, which prompted a drunken chuckle from me.

"I dunno...You woke me up."

"Shit. My bad," Tenta quickly apologized, "I tried to be careful but I guess it didn't work."

"'S fine…" I accepted his apology with no hesitation and turned over on my other side to face him.

"By the way..." I started, catching his attention and seeing his eyes look at me expectantly in the dark room, "Can we get me fitted for some new glasses tomorrow? Being blind is annoying."

"...Yeah, sure." He yawned, "I should be able to pay for your new eyes pretty easily."

"Oh _fuck,"_ The realization that Tenta was going to be paying for me until I got a job or something hit me dead on and nearly startled me fully awake, "I don't have a way to pay you back."

Tenta shook his head as he pulled the blankets to cover more of his torso, "Don' worry about it. I got loads of money from battle, plus my mom helps me pay rent. I've got plenty saved up for stuff like this."

I frowned, "It still doesn't sit right with me, knowing I'm gonna be a freeloader to a friend like you. Can I at least take over some of the chores?"

He waved a dismissive hand, "Knock yourself out. But it's not a contract thing, I'm doing this completely voluntary."

"...Thanks, **Tenta.** This isn't some sarcastic friendship thing- I really mean it."

"No pro-Oh, that reminds me. I can tell you my real name now, if you want."

"...If I want?"

"Yeah, like-" A yawn cut him off, "-like...You couldn't understand my real name when I told you so you started calling me by that really dumb nickname."

"And yet, you still answer to it."

"..." He chose to ignore my interjection, "But anyway, you should probably call me by something in the inkling language so people don't get suspicious or weirded out."

"...Tenta."

"Fuck you."

"It sounds the _exact same_ to me." I snickered, "I literally can't tell the difference except by how my mouth moves when I say it."

"Yeah-well, I _can."_ He muttered bitterly, scooting a little bit closer, "It sounds nothing like the **English** version, so I probably won't respond to you when you first start saying it."

"Wait-Does this mean that if there's an equivalent for **William** in your language, it'll sound the exact same to me?" I wondered, true science going on in my mind, "Quick, say some generic inkling names for boys."

"No."

"Tenta."

"Eat shit."

"Please?"

"..." He groaned as bitterly and exaggeratedly as he could, but complied with my wishes and listed as many names as he knew. Some sounded somewhat close to my name and some of them sounded absolutely nothing like it at all and some of them really made me want to strangle the parents of those poor kids.

 _None_ of them matched my name correctly, by the way. The closest was "Wilson" which wasn't very close at all, but the good side about it was that it could be shortened to "Will" with no problem. That would mean that I would still go by Will in both worlds and it'd sound the exact same to me, though Tenta would have a harder time adjusting since he didn't have the weird language magic thing I got when I turned into an inkling.

"Wilson it is! That's my new name." I cheered, saying it under my breath a few times to get myself used to it. I had a human name and an inkling name now. I felt like some sort of weird double agent.

"Good for you, let's sleep now before we start telling each other's life stories from sleep deprivation." Tenta huffed, shoving his face into a pillow, groaning out an exhausted 'I'm so tiiireeeed' that was muffled by the fabric.

"Great idea. In 2001, **William Montie Brown** was born on a cool September day at around 3 o'clock in the m-"

Tenta immediately smushed a pillow over my face, hissing at me to shut the fuck up as he suffocated me to near death. Then we both fell asleep right after.

And that was my first two hours in the Splatoon universe.

* * *

 **heeeeeey**

 **it's exam week over here as i post this and i am not havin fun**

 **i made this quick short chapter to get the excitement going a bit. the boys aren't in inkopolis yet but they should be in next chappie**

 **this is basically a filler chapter to amuse yall and finally get the plot going (plus will is finally learning how to be a goddamn inkling)**

 **also**

 **pls don't badger me to update, i go at my own pace. motivational reviews such as "i can't wait for the next chapter!" are fine but just reviewing to say that ur impatient makes me go :[**

 **but yea.**

 **thanks for reading**


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